Sample records for field alabama usa

Full Text Available The state of Alabama has a rich fish fauna. Analyzing the current distributional patterns of fish diversity by synthesizing information and integrating different spatial and temporal scales is important for understanding the underlying mechanisms of diversity and making strategies for fish conservation. Basing the study on long-term intensive samples (9,244 collections of fish species at 3,716 field stations across Alabama from 1845 to 1994, I analyzed the general pattern of fish diversity in Alabama at the county level. The results indicate that more than half the area of Alabama has high fish diversity, including fish species endemic to the USA. Most of the counties with the highest fish diversity are in southwestern Alabama. Nonnative fish species occurred mainly in the southernmost counties, such as Mobile and Baldwin. Twelve counties have the rare species which has only one occurence location in each country, with Lauderdale County having the most (10 rare species; the counties with the rare species are generally distributed at the four corner areas of the state boundaries, particularly on the northern and southern boundaries. A high positive correlation exists between species diversity and endemic species, but there is no significant correlation between species diversity and diversification. Both Power-law and logarithmic relationships exist between class of species diversity and its frequency; counties with higher fish diversity tend to have low human-population densities, and are located at or nearby the Alluvial-deltaic Plain and Gulf Coast floodplain.

Full Text Available The Otodontidae include some of the largest sharks to ever live in the world’s oceans (i.e., Carcharocles megalodon. Here we report on Paleocene and Eocene occurrences of Otodus obliquus and Carcharocles auriculatus from Alabama, USA. Teeth of Otodus are rarely encountered in the Gulf Coastal Plain and this report is one of the first records for Alabama. Carcharocles auriculatus is more common in the Eocene deposits of Alabama, but its occurrence has been largely overlooked in the literature. We also refute the occurrence of the Oligocene Carcharocles angustidens in the state. Raised awareness and increased collecting of under-sampled geologic formations in Alabama will likely increase sample sizes of O. obliquus and C. auriculatus and also might unearth other otodontids, such as C. megalodon and C. chubutensis.

The Otodontidae include some of the largest sharks to ever live in the world's oceans (i.e., Carcharocles megalodon). Here we report on Paleocene and Eocene occurrences of Otodus obliquus and Carcharocles auriculatus from Alabama, USA. Teeth of Otodus are rarely encountered in the Gulf Coastal Plain and this report is one of the first records for Alabama. Carcharocles auriculatus is more common in the Eocene deposits of Alabama, but its occurrence has been largely overlooked in the literature. We also refute the occurrence of the Oligocene Carcharocles angustidens in the state. Raised awareness and increased collecting of under-sampled geologic formations in Alabama will likely increase sample sizes of O. obliquus and C. auriculatus and also might unearth other otodontids, such as C. megalodon and C. chubutensis.

Full Text Available Invasive alien species (IAS cause environmental and economical problems. How to effectively manage all IAS at a large area is a challenge.Hypotheses about IAS (such as the “human activity” hypothesis, the “biotic acceptance” and the “biotic resistance” have been proposedfrom numerous studies. Here the state of Alabama in USA, widely occupied by IAS, is used as a case study for characterizing the emergentpatterns of IAS. The results indicate that most IAS are located in metropolitan areas and in the Black Belt area which is a historical intensiveland use area. There are positive relationships between the richness of IAS and the change of human population, the species richness and thenumber of endangered species, as well as the total road length and farmland area across Alabama. This study partially supports the abovethree hypotheses and provides a general pattern of local IAS. Based on possible processes related with IAS, some implications forstrategically managing local IAS are discussed.

Characterizing the spatial variability of nutrients facilitates precision soil sampling. Questions exist regarding the best technique for directed soil sampling based on a priori knowledge of soil and crop patterns. The objective of this study was to evaluate zone delineation techniques for Alabama grain fields to determine which method best minimized the soil test variability. Site one (25.8 ha) and site three (20.0 ha) were located in the Tennessee Valley region, and site two (24.2 ha) was located in the Coastal Plain region of Alabama. Tennessee Valley soils ranged from well drained Rhodic and Typic Paleudults to somewhat poorly drained Aquic Paleudults and Fluventic Dystrudepts. Coastal Plain s o i l s ranged from coarse-loamy Rhodic Kandiudults to loamy Arenic Kandiudults. Soils were sampled by grid soil sampling methods (grid sizes of 0.40 ha and 1 ha) consisting of: 1) twenty composited cores collected randomly throughout each grid (grid-cell sampling) and, 2) six composited cores collected randomly from a -3x3 m area at the center of each grid (grid-point sampling). Zones were established from 1) an Order 1 Soil Survey, 2) corn (Zea mays L.) yield maps, and 3) airborne remote sensing images. All soil properties were moderately to strongly spatially dependent as per semivariogram analyses. Differences in grid-point and grid-cell soil test values suggested grid-point sampling does not accurately represent grid values. Zones created by soil survey, yield data, and remote sensing images displayed lower coefficient of variations (8CV) for soil test values than overall field values, suggesting these techniques group soil test variability. However, few differences were observed between the three zone delineation techniques. Results suggest directed sampling using zone delineation techniques outlined in this paper would result in more efficient soil sampling for these Alabama grain fields.

Full Text Available Analyzing spatial pattern of regional biodiversity and its relationships with environmental factors is important for biodiversity conservation at large scales. The emergent spatial pattern of herpetofauna in Alabama is examined by combining thousands of historical records from 132 species of 24 families and environmental conditions. Our results indicate that species richness of herpetofauna increases with the increase of latitude, while it decreases with the increase of elevation. A negative spatial association exists between amphibians and reptiles on the scale of 10 km2, but 40% of habitats are still shared by amphibians and reptiles at this scale. The highest species richness of herpetofauna is in the Mobile and Baldwin Counties. Power-law relation exists between the county size and the average species richness. Total stream length, and road density are highly correlated with species richness at the county level. With the increase of annual precipitation, species richness decreases. Species richness is higher in the area with the annual average temperature around 17-18 °C. Herpetofaunal diversity in the Coosa/Tallapoosa River, the Alabama River, and the Tombigbee River basins is relatively higher than in the Perdido River and the Escatawpa River basins. The highest species richness exists at the Gulf Coastal Plain, but its species density is the lowest. The highest species richness of herpetofauna exists in the Longleaf-Slash Pine and Loblolly-Shortleaf Pine forests, while lower in Oak- Hickory forest. The emergent spatial pattern may provide important implications for herpetofauna conservation in the face of global climate change and large-scale habitat destruction. The spatial pattern and the possible underlying ecological processes have to be considered for the large scale land zoning and planning.

Eastern equine encephalitis virus (EEEV) is among the most medically important arboviruses in North America, and studies suggest a role for amphibians and reptiles in its transmission cycle. Serum samples collected from 351 amphibians and reptiles (27 species) from Alabama, USA, were tested for the presence of antibodies against EEEV. Frogs, turtles, and lizards showed little or no seropositivity, and snakes had high seropositivity rates. Most seropositive species were preferred or abundant h...

A grid generation tool, called the Mesh Generation and Refinement Tool (MGRT), has been developed using Qt4. Qt4 is a comprehensive C++ application framework which includes GUI and container class-libraries and tools for cross-platform development. MGRT is capable of using several types of algorithms for grid generation. This paper presents an application of the MGRT grid generation tool for creating an unstructured grid of Mobile Bay (Alabama, USA) that will be used for hydrodynamics modeling. The algorithm used in this particular application is the Advancing-Front/Local-Reconnection (AFLR) [1] [2]. This research shows results of grids created with MGRT and compares them to grids (for the same geographical container) created using other grid generation tools. The superior quality of the grids generated by MGRT is shown.

Eastern equine encephalitis virus (EEEV) is among the most medically important arboviruses in North America, and studies suggest a role for amphibians and reptiles in its transmission cycle. Serum samples collected from 351 amphibians and reptiles (27 species) from Alabama, USA, were tested for the presence of antibodies against EEEV. Frogs, turtles, and lizards showed little or no seropositivity, and snakes had high seropositivity rates. Most seropositive species were preferred or abundant hosts of Culex spp. mosquitoes at Tuskegee National Forest, that target ectothermic hosts. The cottonmouth, the most abundant ectotherm sampled, displayed a high prevalence of seropositivity, indicating its possible role as an amplification and/or over-wintering reservoir for EEEV.

Full Text Available Abstract Background The prevalence of Campylobacter spp. in 755 skinless, boneless retail broiler meat samples (breast, tenderloins and thighs collected from food stores in Alabama, USA, from 2005 through 2011 was examined. Campylobacter spp. were isolated using enrichment and plate media. Isolates were identified with multiplex PCR assays and typed with pulsed field gel electrophoresis (PFGE. Data were analyzed by nominal variables (brand, plant, product, season, state and store that may affect the prevalence of these bacteria. Results The average prevalence of Campylobacter spp. in retail broiler meat for these years was 41%, with no statistical differences in the prevalence by year (P > 0.05. Seasons did not affect the prevalence of C. jejuni but statistically affected the prevalence of C. coli (P P P C. coli and C. jejuni had an average prevalence of 28% and 66%, respectively. The prevalence of C. coli varied by brand, plant, season, state, store and year, while the prevalence of C. jejuni varied by brand, product, state and store. Tenderloins had a lower prevalence of Campylobacter spp. than breasts and thighs (P P > 0.05 were observed in the prevalence of C. jejuni by season, the lowest prevalence of C. coli was recorded from October through March. A large diversity of PFGE profiles was found for C. jejuni, with some profiles from the same processing plants reappearing throughout the years. Conclusions The prevalence of Campylobacter spp. did not change during the seven years of the study; however, it did change when analyzed by brand, product and state. Seasons did not affect the prevalence of C. jejuni, but they did affect the prevalence of C. coli. Larger PFGE databases are needed to assess the temporal reoccurrence of PFGE profiles to help predict the risk associated with each profile.

This report contains detailed geologic and engineering information on enhanced-recovery techniques used in unitized Smackover fields in Alabama. The report also makes recommendations on the applicability of these enhanced-recovery techniques to fields that are not now undergoing enhanced recovery. Eleven Smackover fields in Alabama have been unitized. Three fields were unitized specifically to allow the drilling of a strategically placed well to recover uncontacted oil. Two fields in Alabama are undergoing waterflood projects. Five fields are undergoing gas-injection programs to increase the ultimate recovery of hydrocarbons. Silas and Choctaw Ridge fields were unitized but no enhanced-recovery operations have been implemented.

The grass shrimp, Palaemonetes pugio, harbors a number of symbionts within its North American range. Here, we document the distribution and seasonality of 4 taxonomic groups that use P. pugio as a host in coastal Alabama. We conducted a regional survey of 4 symbionts of P. pugio over 3 seasons and compared assemblages across space and time. The most common parasite was the metacercarial stage of the microphallid trematode Microphallus turgidus, which remained consistently prevalent over the 3 seasons surveyed. We also monitored the prevalence of M. turgidus at 2 sites monthly. Prevalence fluctuated significantly among seasons at these sites, but spatial heterogeneity appears to have a stronger influence on regional parasite prevalence. Distributions of 3 of 4 symbionts overlapped in a single geographic area (Mon Louis Island, Alabama, U.S.A.); however, multispecies infections of individual hosts were normally distributed within host populations. Sites surrounding Mon Louis Island had substantially higher parasite prevalence, particularly in the summer months. This area had a high quantity of Spartina marsh habitat, which we found influenced parasite prevalence, suggesting a role for wetland habitat in structuring parasite communities for this host.

Quartzarenite coastal sands extending from eastern Louisiana eastward to Apalachee Bay, Florida, are anomalous: their position 7° north of the Tropic of Cancer contrasts with most other known modern quartzarenites, most of which are in a tropical setting. To determine the origin of these quartzarenite beach sands, we compared the mineralogy of samples taken from Alabama and Florida beaches, rivers that supply sand to the coast, and well cuttings representative of sandstone bedrock exposed in the Alabama coastal plain. To help assess the abundance of recycled quartz, and accepting the conventional wisdom that rounded sand-size quartz grains are recycled, we quantified the roundness of quartz grains in thin sections of river, beach, and well samples. We also determined the abundance of recycled grains with authigenic quartz using cathodoluminescence. River sands on Precambrian and Paleozoic bedrock in the study area have subarkose and sublitharenite compositions. However, as far as 200 km inland from the coast, river sands have attained quartzarenite composition and all rivers are presently delivering sand with at least 97% quartz to the coast. Rivers develop quartzarenite sand composition where they traverse poorly consolidated Tertiary sandstones, all of which we sampled are composed of > 95% quartz. Published experimental work indicates that abrasional rounding of sand-size quartz by rivers is insignificant and rounding in beaches is extremely slow. Hence, the abundance of quartz grains with some degree of rounding (96% for beaches; > 75% for rivers) further attests to the abundance of recycled quartz.

This paper uses an integrated economic-environmental model to assess the point source pollution from major industries in Jefferson County, Northern Alabama. Industrial expansion generates employment, income, and tax revenue for the public sector; however, it is also often associated with the discharge of chemical pollutants. Jefferson County is one of the largest industrial counties in Alabama that experienced smog warnings and ambient ozone concentration, 1996-1999. Past studies of chemical discharge from industries have used models to assess the pollution impact of individual plants. This study, however, uses an extended Input-Output (I-O) economic model with pollution emission coefficients to assess direct and indirect pollutant emission for several major industries in Jefferson County. The major findings of the study are: (a) the principal emission by the selected industries are volatile organic compounds (VOC) and these contribute to the ambient ozone concentration; (b) the direct and indirect emissions are significantly higher than the direct emission by some industries, indicating that an isolated analysis will underestimate the emission by an industry; (c) while low emission coefficient industries may suggest industry choice they may also emit the most hazardous chemicals. This study is limited by the assumptions made, and the data availability, however it provides a useful analytical tool for direct and cumulative emission estimation and generates insights on the complexity in choice of industries.

Full Text Available Regional data needed for effective stream restoration include hydraulic geometry relationships (i.e., regional curves and reference channel morphology parameters. Increasingly ecological conditions are being considered when designing, implementing, and assessing restoration efforts. We provide morphology relationships and associated ecological endpoint curves for reference streams in the Alabama piedmont. Twenty-one reference stream reaches were identified in the Tallapoosa drainage of Alabama, ranging from 0.2 to 242 km2 drainage area. Geomorphic surveys were conducted in each stream to measure riffle cross-sections and longitudinal profiles and related to drainage area to develop regional curves. Fish, crayfish, and benthic macroinvertebrates were collected from each surveyed reach and related to drainage area and geomorphic data to provide associated biological community endpoints. Bankfull channel cross-section area, width, mean depth, and estimated discharge were strongly correlated to watershed drainage area, similar to efforts in other areas of the Piedmont ecoregion. Multiple measures of fish assemblages and crayfish size were strongly predicted by drainage area and geomorphic dimensions. Macroinvertebrates showed no taxonomic and limited functional relationships with drainage area and geomorphic dimension. These tools, which integrate geomorphological and ecological conditions, can result in improved stream evaluations and designs increasing the effectiveness of stream restoration projects.

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A summary is presented of selected water quality data collected from 1976 to 1984 at 75 surface water sites and 28 test wells in the Warrior coal field in northwestern Alabama. The minimum, maximum, mean or median, standard deviation, and number of determinations are given for each site for discharge, pH, alkalinity, specific conductance, hardness, dissolved and suspended solids, sulfate, and total and dissolved iron and manganese. Twelve quadrangles are included in the report showing the location of each site. (USGS)

A greenhouse study was conducted to investigate the growth (dry matter yield) of selected legume cover crops; phytoaccumulation of metals such as Zn, Mn, Pb, Cu, Ni, and Al; the extractability of heavy metals from three different Alabama acid mine spoils. The spoils were amended based on soil test recommended levels of N, P, K, Ca and Mg prior to plant growth. Metals were extracted by three extractants (Mehlich 1, DTPA, and 0.1 M HCl) and values correlated with their accumulation by the selected legumes. Among the cover crops, kobe lespedeza {ital Lespedeza striata} (Thung.) Hook and Arn, sericea lespedeza {ital Lespedeza cuneata} (Dum.) G. Don, and red clover (Trifolium pratense L.) did not survive the stressful conditions of the spoils. However, cowpea (Vigna unguiculata L.) followed by Bragg' soybean {ital Glycine max} (L.) Merr. generally produced the highest dry matter yield while accumulating the largest quantity of metals, except Al, from spoils. The extractability of most metals from the spoils was generally in the order of: 0.1 MHCl {gt} DTPA. Mehlich 1 did not extract Pb and 0.1 M HCl did not extract Ni, whereas DTPA extracted all the metals in a small amount relative to HCl and Mehlich 1. All the extractants were quite effective in removing plant-available Zn from the spoils. In general, the extractants' ability to predict plant-available metals depended on the crop species, spoil type, and extractant used. 28 refs., 4 tabs.

The availability of wetlands and shallow water habitats significantly influences Gulf of Mexico (GOM) penaeid shrimp fishery productivity. However, the GOM region has the highest rate of wetland loss in the USA. Protection and management of these vital GOM habitats are critical to sustainable shrimp fisheries. Brown shrimp (Farfantepenaeus aztecus) are a major component of GOM fisheries. We present an approach for estimating the areal extent of suitable habitat for post-larval and juvenile brown shrimp in Mobile Bay, Alabama, using an existing habitat suitability index model for the northern GOM calculated from probabilistic survey of water quality and sediment data, land cover data, and submerged aquatic vegetation coverages. This estuarine scale approach is intended to support targeted protection and restoration of these habitats. These analyses indicate that approximately 60% of the area of Mobile Bay is categorized as suitable to near optimal for post-larval and juvenile shrimp and 38% of the area is marginally to minimally suitable. We identify potential units within Mobile Bay for targeted restoration to improve habitat suitability. ?? 2010 Springer Science+Business Media B.V.

Full Text Available Large-scale biodiversity conservation is urgently needed due to increasing habitat loss and fragmentation. Understanding topological perspectives of species' distribution patterns can provide useful information for linking conservation studies at larger scales. We studied topological properties of localities in Alabama where 60 species of 12 families of amphibians were present. Analysis included a clustering coefficient which measures the strength of a population group, the relationship between occurrence localities and species number, the fractal dimension of occurrence localities (which emphasizes spatial irregularity, and distance to nearest-neighbor. The results indicate that the clustering coefficients of most amphibian species were low, but were higher for species with few occurrence localities, such as Rana sylvatica and Limnaoedus ocularis. The general relationship between species number and occurrence localities was that the majority of species held few localities in their distribution, while the remaining species occupied a greater number of localities. The fractal dimension (FD for all amphibian localities was about 1.58, although FD was low for most individual species. We identified four relationships in the distribution of distance to nearest-neighbor: linear, logarithmic, power and polynomial. These topological properties may indicate intrinsic features about amphibians in Alabama and provide useful information for regional planning. Enhancing landscape linkages across a large area using undisturbed areas, such as 300-500 km in diameter may be a good approach to conservation practice in this region. Steps needed for biodiversity conservation planning in Alabama include creating or conserving small habitats across agricultural and urban land, and maintaining suitable spatial complexity and distance to nearest neighbors.

Changes in carbon density (i.e., carbon stock per unit area) and land cover greatly affect carbon sequestration. Previous studies have shown that land cover change detection strongly depends on spatial scale. However, the influence of the spatial resolution of land cover change information on the estimated terrestrial carbon sequestration is not known. Here, we quantified and evaluated the impact of land cover change databases at various spatial resolutions (250 m, 500 m, 1 km, 2 km, and 4 km) on the magnitude and spatial patterns of regional carbon sequestration in four counties in Georgia and Alabama using the General Ensemble biogeochemical Modeling System (GEMS). Results indicated a threshold of 1 km in the land cover change databases and in the estimated regional terrestrial carbon sequestration. Beyond this threshold, significant biases occurred in the estimation of terrestrial carbon sequestration, its interannual variability, and spatial patterns. In addition, the overriding impact of interannual climate variability on the temporal change of regional carbon sequestration was unrealistically overshadowed by the impact of land cover change beyond the threshold. The implications of these findings directly challenge current continental- to global-scale carbon modeling efforts relying on information at coarse spatial resolution without incorporating fine-scale land cover dynamics.

Full Text Available Understanding vertebrate habitat relationships is important to promote management strategies for the longterm conservation of many species. Using a modified drift fence method, we sampled reptiles and compared habitat variables within the William B. Bankhead National Forest (BNF in Alabama, U.S.A from April 2005 to June 2006. We captured 226 individual reptiles representing 19 species during 564 total trap nights. We used canonical correspondence analysis to examine habitat associations for the reptiles sampled and we detected a distinct habitat gradient ranging from sites with greater litter depth and percent canopy cover to more open sites with greater woody, herbaceous, and coarse woody debris (CWD coverage, and CWD volume. Little brown skinks Scincella lateralis and eastern worm snakes Carphophis a. amoenus were associated with sites with greater litter depth and canopy cover, whereas eastern fence lizards Sceloporus undulatus, copperheads Agkistrodon contortrix, and gray ratsnakes Pantherophis spiloides were associated with sites possessing greater CWD coverage and volume. We found that disturbances due to the southern pine beetle Dendroctonus frontalis were likely important for influencing reptile distributions through the creation of canopy gaps and fallen coarse woody debris. Compared to other studies, our modified drift-fence trap technique was successful for sampling larger snake species (66 snakes in 564 trap nights. We have also provided detailed schematics for constructing drift fence array and box traps used in this study [Current Zoology 56 (4: 411–420, 2010].

The Mobile-Tensaw River Delta (MTD) drains more than 75% of the state of Alabama and leads into Mobile Bay and the Northern Gulf of Mexico. Although it is a relatively healthy watershed, the MTD is potentially impacted by inputs of contaminants such as heavy metals. The levels of lead, copper, cadmium, and mercury were measured in whole body samples of Eastern Ribbon Snakes (Thamnophis sauritus) collected from the MTD. Lead, copper, and cadmium levels were also measured in anuran larvae (Rana catesbeiana, R. clamitans, and Hyla cinerea). These organisms were chosen because they are abundant in the MTD and are underrepresented in environmental contaminant biomonitoring studies. Ribbon snakes had significantly lower levels of lead, copper, and cadmium compared to whole body levels in anuran larvae, indicating that these metals were not biomagnifying through upper trophic levels. Copper and mercury levels were significantly correlated with age/growth indices in ribbon snakes. Although detectable levels of all metals were found in anuran larvae and ribbon snakes, these levels appear to be less than body burdens that would be associated with toxic effects. Populations of ribbon snakes in our particular collection sites within the MTD appear to be at minimal risk of exposure to toxic levels of metals. However, the MTD contains low- and high-impact areas, and other populations within this watershed could be at higher risk of exposure to heavy metals. We found the Eastern Ribbon Snake to be an excellent snake model for contaminant biomonitoring because of its abundance, reasonable size, and ease of collection.

Full Text Available Introduction: HIV in the United States is concentrated in the South, an impoverished region with marked health disparities and high rates of incarceration, particularly among African Americans. In the Deep South state of Alabama, a policy directive to reduce prison overcrowding has diverted large numbers of convicted felons to community supervision. Probation and parole offices have yet to provide the HIV education and testing services that are offered in state prisons. This study sought to implement on-site HIV services for probationers and parolees through an intersectoral programme involving law enforcement, university and HIV agency employees. The three main objectives were to (1 involve probation/parole officers in planning, execution and assessment of the programme, (2 provide HIV education to the officers and (3 offer voluntary pretest HIV counselling and testing to probationers and parolees. Methods: The partnered programme was conducted between October and December 2015. Offenders who were recently sentenced to probation (“new offenders”, received HIV education during orientation. Offenders already under supervision prior to the programme (“current offenders” learned about the on-site services during scheduled office visits. Outcomes were measured through officer assessments, informal feedback and uptake of HIV services among offenders. Results: A total of 86 new and 249 current offenders reported during the programme (N=335. Almost one-third (31.4% of new offenders sought HIV testing, while only 3.2% of current offenders were screened for HIV. Refusals among current offenders invoked monogamy, time pressures, being tested in prison, fear of positive test results and concerns about being labelled as gay or unfaithful to women partners. Officers rated the programme as worthwhile and feasible to implement at other offices. Conclusions: The partnership approach ensured support from law enforcement and intersectoral cooperation

During the past thirty years research using high magnetic fields has technically evolved in the manner, but not the magnitude, of the so-called big science areas of particle physics, plasma physics, neutron scattering, synchrotron light scattering, and astronomy. Starting from the laboratories of individual researchers it moved to a few larger universities, then to centralized national facilities with research and maintenance staffs, and, finally, to joint international ventures to build unique facilities, as illustrated by the subject of this conference. To better understand the nature of this type of research and its societal justification it is helpful to compare it, in general terms, with the aforementioned big-science fields. High magnetic field research differs from particle physics, plasma physics, and astronomy in three respects: (1) it is generic research that cuts across a wide range of scientific disciplines in physics, chemistry, biology, medicine, and engineering; (2) it studies materials and processes that are relevant for a variety of technological applications and it gives insight into biological processes; (3) it has produced, at least, comparably significant results with incomparably smaller resources. Unlike neutron and synchrotron light scattering, which probe matter, high magnetic fields change the thermodynamic state of matter. This change of state is fundamental and independent of other state variables, such as pressure and temperature. After the magnetic field is applied, various techniques are then used to study the new state.

Full Text Available The olive snail (Neritina reclivata is ubiquitous in tropical and sub-tropical systems of the Gulf of Mexico, however its impacts on sediment microalgae have been little studied. Many coastal systems around the world are being eutrophied due to human activities, and seemingly they will continue to be eutrophied to a further extent in the future. Exploring the single and combined impacts of further nutrient enrichment and grazing by the olive snail on sediment microalgae in such eutrophic systems is an important question for our understanding and management of these systems. Here we examine the effects of short-term nutrient enrichment and grazing by the olive snail N. reclivata on sediment microalgal biomass and composition in a shallow eutrophic estuary (Weeks Bay, Alabama, USA of the Northern Gulf of Mexico. For this, we performed a series of factorial experiments adding or not nutrients and removing or not the snail, for a total of four treatments in each experiment: ambient grazing, ambient nutrients; ambient grazing, increased nutrients; no grazing, ambient nutrients; and no grazing, increased nutrients. We did not find any significant impact of nutrient addition in any of the eight short-term (i.e. four days experiments carried out. Impacts by the snail were minor; we only found a decrease in biomass due to snail grazing in one of the eight experiments, and no impacts on microalgal (i.e. diatom composition. High ambient nutrient concentrations in the sediment porewater and low snail abundances on the sediment could explain these findings. Our results suggest that ephemeral, short-term nutrient pulses into eutrophic coastal systems of the Northern Gulf of Mexico, such as Weeks Bay (Alabama, USA, should not greatly affect the abundance of sediment microalgae, even though those pulses occur in well-lit areas. The results further suggest the snail N. reclivata is not a major control of sediment microalgal populations in the subtidal

Assessment of recently collected geophysical and sediment-core data identifies an extensive shoal field located off Dauphin and Petit Bois Islands. The shoals are the product of Pleistocene fluvial deposition and Holocene marine-transgressive processes, and their position and orientation oblique to the modern shoreline has been stable over the past century. The underlying stratigraphy has also influenced the evolution of the barrier platform and inlets. Buried distributary channels bisect the platform, creating erosion hotspots that breach during intense and repeated storms. Inlet growth inhibits littoral transport, and over time, reduces the down-drift sand supply. These relations demonstrate the role of the antecedent geologic framework on morphologic evolution. This study is part of the USGS Northern Gulf of Mexico Ecosystem Change and Hazard Susceptibility Project and the USACE Mississippi Coastal Improvements Program. These projects produced a wealth of information regarding coastal geology, geomorphology, and physical resources; some of the initial results are presented here.

The Antioch Church core from central Alabama, spanning the Cretaceous-Paleogene (K-P) boundary, was investigated by a multi-proxy approach to study paleoenvironmental and sea level hanges within the wellconstrained sequence stratigraphic setting of the Gulf of Mexico margin. The Antioch Church core comprises the Maastrichtian calcareous nannoplankton Zone CC25 and the Danian Zones NP1 to NP4 corresponding to the Maastrichtian planktonic foraminifera Zones CF3 and the Danian Zones P1a to P2....

Effective field understanding of soils is crucial. This is true everywhere but especially so in Iowa, a 15 million hectare state in the central USA's "corn belt." Iowa is intensely farmed and almost exclusively privately owned. Many regions of Iowa have had over 90% of their land area in row crops for the past 60 years. In these regions two very common land management strategies are tile drainage (1.5 million km total) and high rates of fertilization (e.g., 200 kg N/ha-yr for cropland) Iowa also has problematic environmental issues including high rates of erosion, excessive sediment and nutrient pollution in water bodies and episodic catastrophic floods. Given the preceding the Agronomy, Environmental Science and Sustainable Agriculture programs at Iowa State University (ISU) offer a strong suite of soil science classes - undergraduate through graduate. The objective of this presentation is to review selected field based soil science courses offered by those programs. This review includes contrasting and comparing campus-based and immersion classes. Immersion classes include ones offered at Iowa Lakeside Laboratory, as "soil judging" and internationally. Findings over the past 20 years are consistent. Students at all levels gain soil science knowledge, competency and confidence proportional to the amount of time spent in field activities. Furthermore their professional skepticism is sharpened. They are also preferentially hired even in career postings that do not require fieldwork. In other words, field learning results in better soil science professionals who have highly functional and sought after knowledge.

The recent emphasis on corn production to meet the increasing demand for bioethanol has resulted in trepidation regarding the sustainability of the global food supply. To assess the potential of alternative crops as sources of bioethanol production, we grew sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas) and cassava (Manihot esculentum) at locations near Auburn, Alabama and Beltsville, Maryland in order to measure root carbohydrate (starch, sucrose, glucose) and root biomass. Averaged for both locations, sweet potato yielded the highest concentration of root carbohydrate (ca 80%), primarily in the form of starch (ca 50%) and sucrose (ca 30%); whereas cassava had root carbohydrate concentrations of (ca 55%), almost entirely as starch. For sweet potato, overall carbohydrate production was 9.4 and 12.7 Mg ha{sup -1} for the Alabama and Maryland sites, respectively. For cassava, carbohydrate production in Maryland was poor, yielding only 2.9 Mg ha{sup -1}. However, in Alabama, carbohydrate production from cassava averaged {proportional_to}10 Mg ha{sup -1}. Relative to carbohydrate production from corn in each location, sweet potato and cassava yielded approximately 1.5 x and 1.6 x as much carbohydrate as corn in Alabama; 2.3 x and 0.5 x for the Maryland site. If economical harvesting and processing techniques could be developed, these data suggest that sweet potato in Maryland, and sweet potato and cassava in Alabama, have greater potential as ethanol sources than existing corn systems, and as such, could be used to replace or offset corn as a source of biofuels. (author)

Organochlorine pesticide and total polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) concentrations were measured in largemouth bass from the Tombigbee River near a former DDT manufacturing facility at McIntosh, Alabama. Evaluation of mean p,p'- and o,p'-DDT isomer concentrations and o,p'- versus p,p'-isomer proportions in McIntosh bass indicated that DDT is moving off site from the facility and into the Tombigbee River. Concentrations of p,p'-DDT isomers in McIntosh bass remained unchanged from 1974 to 2004 and were four times greater than contemporary concentrations from a national program. Total DDT in McIntosh bass exceeded dietary effect concentrations developed for bald eagle and osprey. Hexachlorobenzene, PCBs, and toxaphene concentrations in bass from McIntosh also exceeded thresholds to protect fish and piscivorous wildlife. Whereas concentrations of DDT and most other organochlorine chemicals in fish have generally declined in the U.S. since their ban, concentrations of DDT in fish from McIntosh remain elevated and represent a threat to wildlife. - DDT persists in the environment near a former manufacturing facility that ceased production over 40 years ago, and concentrations represent a risk to fish and piscivorous birds in the area.

Organochlorine pesticide and total polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) concentrations were measured in largemouth bass from the Tombigbee River near a former DDT manufacturing facility at McIntosh, Alabama. Evaluation of mean p,p???- and o,p???-DDT isomer concentrations and o,p???- versus p,p???-isomer proportions in McIntosh bass indicated that DDT is moving off site from the facility and into the Tombigbee River. Concentrations of p,p???-DDT isomers in McIntosh bass remained unchanged from 1974 to 2004 and were four times greater than contemporary concentrations from a national program. Total DDT in McIntosh bass exceeded dietary effect concentrations developed for bald eagle and osprey. Hexachlorobenzene, PCBs, and toxaphene concentrations in bass from McIntosh also exceeded thresholds to protect fish and piscivorous wildlife. Whereas concentrations of DDT and most other organochlorine chemicals in fish have generally declined in the U.S. since their ban, concentrations of DDT in fish from McIntosh remain elevated and represent a threat to wildlife.

Development of coalbed methane has become a major industry for the state of Alabama. In excess of 1,300 wells were producing methane by the end of July 1990. A byproduct of methane production is produced water containing elevated concentrations of chloride, sodium, iron and bicarbonate. These waters are currently permitted for discharge into streams or as a land application. The purpose of the study was to examine the long-term impacts of produced waters to streams relative to water-quality changes and aquatic biological effects. Distinct water-quality changes in the receiving stream were documented and consisted primarily of increased dissolved solids, changes in the pH regime and changes in the carbonate buffering system. In contrast, no significant or consistent detrimental change in the structure or function of the stream biological community could be detected. Subtle changes in biological community structure and composition were noted and most likely due to effects associated with algal productivity in settling lagoons. These changes, however, were within the boundaries of variation typically observed for the communities. Based on the results of this and earlier studies, it was concluded that the national water-quality criterion for chloride was protective of stream life as examined in the study.

Electromagnetic fields (EMF) are a combination of electric and magnetic fields of energy that surround any electrical device when it is plugged in and turned on. Scientific experiments have not clearly shown whether or not exposure to EMF increases cancer risk. Scientists continue to study the issue.

The chemical composition of formation water and associated gases from the lower Cretaceous Paluxy Formation was determined using four different sampling methods at a characterization well in the Citronelle Oil Field, Alabama, as part of the Southeast Regional Carbon Sequestration Partnership (SECARB) Phase III Anthropogenic Test, which is an integrated carbon capture and storage project. In this study, formation water and gas samples were obtained from well D-9-8 #2 at Citronelle using gas lift, electric submersible pump, U-tube, and a downhole vacuum sampler (VS) and subjected to both field and laboratory analyses. Field chemical analyses included electrical conductivity, dissolved sulfide concentration, alkalinity, and pH; laboratory analyses included major, minor and trace elements, dissolved carbon, volatile fatty acids, free and dissolved gas species. The formation water obtained from this well is a Na–Ca–Cl-type brine with a salinity of about 200,000 mg/L total dissolved solids. Differences were evident between sampling methodologies, particularly in pH, Fe and alkalinity. There was little gas in samples, and gas composition results were strongly influenced by sampling methods. The results of the comparison demonstrate the difficulty and importance of preserving volatile analytes in samples, with the VS and U-tube system performing most favorably in this aspect.

Gilbertown Field is the oldest oil field in Alabama and produces oil from chalk of the Upper Cretaceous Selma Group and from sandstone of the Eutaw Formation along the southern margin of the Gilbertown fault system. Most of the field has been in primary recovery since establishment, but production has declined to marginally economic levels. This investigation applies advanced geologic concepts designed to aid implementation of improved recovery programs. The Gilbertown fault system is detached at the base of Jurassic salt. The fault system began forming as a half graben and evolved in to a full graben by the Late Cretaceous. Conventional trapping mechanisms are effective in Eutaw sandstone, whereas oil in Selma chalk is trapped in faults and fault-related fractures. Burial modeling establishes that the subsidence history of the Gilbertown area is typical of extensional basins and includes a major component of sediment loading and compaction. Surface mapping and fracture analysis indicate that faults offset strata as young as Miocene and that joints may be related to regional uplift postdating fault movement. Preliminary balanced structural models of the Gilbertown fault system indicate that synsedimentary growth factors need to be incorporated into the basic equations of area balance to model strain and predict fractures in Selma and Eutaw reservoirs.

From April 13 to 20, 2013, scientists from the U.S. Geological Survey St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center (USGS-SPCMSC) conducted geophysical and sediment sampling surveys on Dauphin Island, Alabama, as part of Field Activity 13BIM01. The objectives of the study were to quantify inorganic and organic accretion rates in back-barrier and mainland marsh and estuarine environments. Various field and laboratory methods were used to achieve these objectives, including subsurface imaging using Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR), sediment sampling, lithologic and microfossil analyses, and geochronology techniques to produce barrier island stratigraphic cross sections to help interpret the recent (last 2000 years) geologic evolution of the island.This data series report is an archive of GPR and associated Global Positioning System (GPS) data collected in April 2013 from Dauphin Island and adjacent barrier-island environments. In addition to GPR data, marsh core and vibracore data were also collected collected but are not reported (or included) in the current report. Data products, including elevation-corrected subsurface profile images of the processed GPR data, unprocessed digital GPR trace data, post-processed GPS data, Geographic Information System (GIS) files and accompanying Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC) metadata, can be downloaded from the Data Downloads page.

The performance of Calpine's Geysers steam field from startup in 1960 to 2008 is described in this paper. Since October 2003, Calpine has received approximately 482 L/s of tertiary-treated reclaimed water from the City of Santa Rosa. To accommodate and derive benefit from this water, Calpine has converted 20 wells (ten producers, six shut-in, two observation, and two suspended wells) to high-rate injection service. Additional nine wells were also converted to low-rate injectors that receive 12.6 L/s or less. Annual recovery factors (i.e., fieldwide increase in annual steam production divided by annual injection) for the first 5 years of Santa Rosa Geysers Recharge Project (SRGRP) operation have been estimated at 17.6%, 26.1%, 37.1%, 39% and 44.6%, respectively; reasonably close to or slightly higher than the values, predicted prior to SRGRP startup. Using a revised definition that includes the amount of un-boiled water in the reservoir, the annual recovery factors turn out to be 17.6%, 16.1%, 14.6%, 12.4% and 12.2% from year one through year five. Improvements in the wellfield, water injection, and power plant modifications from January 1995 through December 2008 are also discussed in this paper. (author)

The main aim of the research work was to intensify technology transfer between Finland and USA in the field of biofuel production. Technology transfer should intensify technology exports from Finland to USA and to contribute to the development of more efficient and competitive production technology for wood chips. The project was carried out in co-operation with VTT Processes and Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) of Tennessee, USA. Timberjack and Forest Service of USA also supported the work. About 204 million hectares of the total forest area of 302 million hectares in USA are available for forest industries. In 1996, about 460 million m{sup 3} of merchantable wood was cut in USA, and the amount of slash amounted to about 70 million t of dry matter. The production potential of forest chips in USA has been estimated at about 21.6 million t of dry matter (118 TWh), the production costs being less than euro 6.6/MWh. In 1997, the energy use of different wood species amounted to about 713 TWh in USA. The proportion of wood in the total consumption of energy was around 2.7% in 1999, and the use of forest chips in 1997 has been estimated at about 81.2 TWh. In USA, mainly whole-tree harvesting is employed, the trees being felled with a harvester equipped with a harvesting head. The harvester moves the whole-tree bundles to a strip road, and a skidder moves the bundles further to a roadside landing. At the roadside landing the trees are delimbed and cut to the desired length. Sawn timber can also be transported as tree-length logs to the site of use. At the roadside landing, the logging residues, like branches, tops and small-wood can be processed to energy with a chipper-truck combination. (orig.)

The Black Warrior Basin of Alabama is one of the most important coal mining and coalbed methane production areas in the United States. Methane control efforts through degasification that started almost 25 years ago for the sole purpose of ensuring mining safety resulted in more than 5000 coalbed methane wells distributed within various fields throughout the basin. The wells are completed mostly in the Pratt, Mary Lee, and Black Creek coal groups of the Upper Pottsville formation and present a unique opportunity to understand methane reservoir properties of these coals and to improve their degasification performances. The Brookwood and Oak Grove fields in the Black Warrior Basin are probably two of the most important fields in the basin due to current longwall coal mining activities. In this work, methane and water productions of 92 vertical wellbores drilled, some completed 20 years ago, over a current large coal mine district located in these two fields, were analyzed by history matching techniques. The boreholes were completed at the Mary Lee coal group, or at combinations of the Pratt, Mary Lee, and Black Creek groups. History matching models were prepared and performed according to properties of each coal group. Decline curve analyses showed that effective exponential decline rates of the wells were between 2% and 25% per year. Results of production history matching showed, although they varied by coal group, that pressure decreased as much as 80% to nearly 25 psi in some areas and resulted in corresponding decreases in methane content. Water saturation in coals decreased from 100% to between 20 and 80%, improving gas relative permeabilities to as much as 0.8. As a result of primary depletion, permeability of coal seams increased between 10 and 40% compared to their original permeability, which varied between 1 and 10 md depending on depth and coal seam. These results not only can be used for diagnostic and interpretation purposes, but can be used as parameter

This report includes description of the Citronelle field study area and the work carried out in the project to characterize the geology and composition of reservoir rock material and to collect an analyze the geochemical composition of produced fluid waters from the Citronelle field. Reservoir rock samples collected from well bore core were made into thin-sections and assessed for textural properties, including pore types and porosity distribution. Compositional framework grain modal data were collected via point-counting, and grain and cement mineralogy was assessed using SEM-EDS. Geochemistry of fluid samples is described and modeled using PHREEQC. Composition of rock and produced fluids were used as inputs for TOUGHREACT reactive transport modeling, which determined the rock-fluid system was in disequilibrium.

This report includes description of the Citronelle field study area and the work carried out in the project to characterize the geology and composition of reservoir rock material and to collect an analyze the geochemical composition of produced fluid waters from the Citronelle field. Reservoir rock samples collected from well bore core were made into thin-sections and assessed for textural properties, including pore types and porosity distribution. Compositional framework grain modal data were collected via point-counting, and grain and cement mineralogy was assessed using SEM-EDS. Geochemistry of fluid samples is described and modeled using PHREEQC. Composition of rock and produced fluids were used as inputs for TOUGHREACT reactive transport modeling, which determined the rock-fluid system was in disequilibrium.

Education policymakers and educators in Alabama are committed to improving the state's public education system to ensure that students gain the knowledge and skills they need to graduate from high school ready for real life. The state is on the path to implementing higher academic standards--the College and Career Ready Standards--which lay a…

Gilbertown Field is the oldest oil field in Alabama and has produced oil from fractured chalk of the Cretaceous Selma Group and glauconitic sandstone of the Eutaw Formation. Nearly all of Gilbertown Field is still in primary recovery, although waterflooding has been attempted locally. The objective of this project is to analyze the geologic structure and burial history of Mesozoic and Tertiary strata in Gilbertown Field and adjacent areas in order to suggest ways in which oil recovery can be improved. Indeed, the decline of oil production to marginally economic levels in recent years has made this type of analysis timely and practical. Key technical advancements being sought include understanding the relationship of requisite strain to production in Gilbertown reservoirs, incorporation of synsedimentary growth factors into models of area balance, quantification of the relationship between requisite strain and bed curvature, determination of the timing of hydrocarbon generation, and identification of the avenues and mechanisms of fluid transport.

Analysis of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) characterized as USA300 by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis identified two distinct clones. One was similar to community-associated USA300 MRSA (ST8-IVa, t008, and Panton-Valentine leukocidin positive). The second (ST8-IVa, t024...

The principal research efforts for Phase II of the project were drilling an infill well strategically located in Section 13, T. 10 N., R. 2 W., of the Womack Hill Field, Choctaw and Clarke Counties, Alabama, and obtaining fresh core from the upper Smackover reservoir to test the feasibility of implementing an immobilized enzyme technology project in this field. The Turner Land and Timber Company 13-10 No. 1 well was successfully drilled and tested at a daily rate of 132 barrels of oil in Section 13. The well has produced 27,720 barrels of oil, and is currently producing at a rate of 60 barrels of oil per day. The 13-10 well confirmed the presence of 175,000 barrels of attic (undrained) oil in Section 13. As predicted from reservoir characterization, modeling and simulation, the top of the Smackover reservoir in the 13-10 well is structurally high to the tops of the Smackover in offsetting wells, and the 13-10 well has significantly more net pay than the offsetting wells. The drilling and testing of the 13-10 well showed that the eastern part of the field continues to have a strong water drive and that there is no need to implement a pressure maintenance program in this part of the Womack Hill Field at this time. The success achieved in drilling and testing the 13-10 infill well demonstrates the benefits of building a geologic model to target areas in mature fields that have the potential to contain undrained oil, thus increasing the productivity and profitability of these fields. Microbial cultures that grew at 90 C and converted ethanol to acid were recovered from fresh cuttings from the Smackover carbonate reservoir in an analogous field to the Womack Hill Field in southwest Alabama; however, no viable microorganisms were found in the Smackover cores recovered from the drilling of the 13-10 well in Womack Hill Field. Further evaluation is, therefore, required prior to implementing an immobilized enzyme technology project in the Womack Hill Field.

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — This data set contains sensitive biological resource data for marine, estuarine, and freshwater fish species in Alabama. Vector polygons in this data set represent...

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — This data set contains sensitive biological resource data for marine and estuarine invertebrate species in Alabama. Vector polygons in this data set represent...

Induced seismicity related to the exploitation of geothermal fields has caused concern and objection from the public against the operation of geothermal reservoirs in close proximity to population centers. Production at the EGS sites in Basel (Switzerland) was stopped after renewed seismicity caused concern and objection from the public in the city. A planned expansion of the EGS site in Soultz-sous-forêt (France) was suspended after attempts to generate increased permeability through hydrofracturing of the reservoir rock generated an increase in seismicity. As a consequence of these concerns and objections it becomes imperative to understand the differences between naturally occurring and induced events and their relationship to induced stress changes in the reservoir if sustained generation of geothermal energy is the goal. We will address seismicity trends at The Geysers Geothermal Reservoir, CA USA, to understand the role of historical seismicity associated with past injection of water and/or production of steam. The paper will present results of time-lapse tomography to evaluate and quantify temporal changes of the physical parameters in the reservoir. Seismic data collected by the Lawrence Berkeley National Lab (LBNL) seismic network from 2003 through present, were analyzed to delineate regions where compressional and shear-wave velocities indicate changes in reservoir properties.

... organizations, and has determined that there is a cultural affiliation between the human remains and associated.... Gregory Waselkov, Director, University of South Alabama Center for Archaeological Studies, 6052 USA Drive...:113) called the ``delightful West Bend neighborhood'' in the late 1800s. Cultural materials from site...

In the aftermath of a catastrophic tsunami, much is to be learned about tsunami generation and propagation, landscape and ecological changes, and the response and recovery of those affected by the disaster. Knowledge of the impacted area directly helps response and relief personnel in their efforts to reach and care for survivors and for re-establishing community services. First-hand accounts of tsunami-related impacts and consequences also help researchers, practitioners, and policy makers in other parts of the world that lack recent events to better understand and manage their own societal risks posed by tsunami threats. Conducting post-tsunami surveys and disseminating useful results to decision makers in an effective, efficient, and timely manner is difficult given the logistical issues and competing demands in a post-disaster environment. To facilitate better coordination of field-data collection and dissemination of results, a protocol for coordinating post-tsunami science surveys was developed by a multi-disciplinary group of representatives from state and federal agencies in the USA. This protocol is being incorporated into local, state, and federal post-tsunami response planning through the efforts of the Pacific Risk Management ‘Ohana, the U.S. National Tsunami Hazard Mitigation Program, and the U.S. National Plan for Disaster Impact Assessments. Although the protocol was designed to support a coordinated US post-tsunami response, we believe it could help inform post-disaster science surveys conducted elsewhere and further the discussion on how hazard researchers can most effectively operate in disaster environments.

The Wadena drumlin field (WDF; ~ 7500 km2) in west-central Minnesota, USA, is bordered along its outer extremity by the till-cored Alexandria moraine marking the furthest extent of the southwesterly-flowing Wadena ice lobe at c. 15,000 kyr BP. Newly available high-resolution Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) data reveal new information regarding the number, morphology and extent of streamlined bedforms in the WDF. In addition, a newly-developed quantitative methodology based on relief curvature analysis of LiDAR elevation-based raster data is used to evaluate sediment volumes represented by the WDF and its bounding end moraine. These data are used to evaluate models for the origin of drumlins. High-resolution LiDAR-based mapping doubles the streamlined footprint of the Wadena Lobe to ~ 16,500 km2 increases the number of bedforms from ~ 2000 to ~ 6000, and most significantly, reclassifies large numbers of bedforms mapped previously as 'drumlins' as 'mega-scale glacial lineations' (MSGLs), indicating that the Wadena ice lobe experienced fast ice flow. The total volume of sediment in the Alexandria moraine is ~ 71-110 km3, that in the drumlins and MSGLs is ~ 2.83 km3, and the volume of swales between these bedforms is ~ 74.51 km3. The moraine volume is equivalent to a till layer 6.8 m thick across the entire bed of the Wadena lobe, suggesting drumlinization and moraine formation were accompanied by widespread lowering of the bed. This supports the hypothesis that drumlins and MSGLs are residual erosional features carved from a pre-existing till; swales represent 'missing sediment' that was eroded subglacially and advected downglacier to build the Alexandria Moraine during fast ice flow. Alternatively, the relatively small volume of sediment represented by subglacial bedforms indicates they could have formed rapidly by depositional processes.

Induced seismicity associated with the exploitation of geothermal fields is used as a tool to characterize and delineate changes associated with injection and production of fluids from the reservoir. At the same time public concern of felt seismicity has led to objections against the operation of geothermal reservoirs in close proximity to population centers. Production at the EGS sites in Basel (Switzerland) was stopped after renewed seismicity caused concern and objection from the public in the city. Operations in other geothermal reservoirs had to be scaled back or interrupted due to an unexpected increase in seismicity (Soultz-sous-forêt, France, Berlín, El Salvador). As a consequence of these concerns and in order to optimize the use of induced seismicity for reservoir engineering purposes, it becomes imperative to understand the relationship between seismic events and stress changes in the reservoir. We will address seismicity trends at The Geysers Geothermal Reservoir, CA USA, to understand the role of historical seismicity associated with past injection of water and/or production of steam. Our analysis makes use of a comprehensive database of earthquakes and associated phase arrivals from 2004 to 2011. A high-precision sub-set of the earthquake data was selected to analyze temporal changes in seismic velocities and Vp/Vs-ratio throughout the whole reservoir. We find relatively low Vp/Vs values in 2004 suggestive of a vapor dominated reservoir. With passing time, however, the observed temporal increase in Vp/Vs, coupled with a decrease in P- and S-wave velocities suggests the presence of fluid-filled fractured rock. Considering the start of a continuous water injection project in 2004, it can be concluded that the fluid saturation of the reservoir has successfully recovered. Preliminary results of 3-D velocity inversions of seismic data appear to corroborate earlier findings that the lowest Vp/Vs estimates are observed in the center of the reservoir

Glyphosate resistant Palmer amaranth (Amaranthus palmeri) was discovered in central Georgia (USA) in 2006. Subsequent spread of this highly problematic weed throughout the region prompted growers and registrants to seek labels for herbicides that can provide cost-effective control. To this end, the...

The aim of our project is to understand the relationship between geothermal operations and medium size earthquakes (M>3) at The Geysers Geothermal Reservoir, CA, USA. To reach that goal we have devised an approach combining 4-D seismic characterization of the reservoir structure, full moment tensor analysis of the source rupture processes, geomechanical modeling of the reservoir stresses and temperatures and seismic hazard analyses. In our presentation, we will present results based on seismic data collected by the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory with a 34-station seismic network from 2003 through present. Specifically, we will present 3-D P- and S-wave velocity structure of the reservoir for each year of data availability and investigate temporal changes between different epochs. The spatial pattern of temporal velocity changes is subsequently correlated to the available injection and production data to investigate the cause for the observed velocity changes.

This project was designed to analyze the structure of Mesozoic and Tertiary strata in Gilbertown Field and adjacent areas to suggest ways in which oil recovery can be improved. The Eutaw Formation comprises 7 major flow units and is dominated by low-resistivity, low-contrast play that is difficult to characterize quantitatively. Selma chalk produces strictly from fault-related fractures that were mineralized as warm fluid migrated from deep sources. Resistivity, dipmeter, and fracture identification logs corroborate that deformation is concentrated in the hanging-wall drag zones. New area balancing techniques were developed to characterize growth strata and confirm that strain is concentrated in hanging-wall drag zones. Curvature analysis indicates that the faults contain numerous fault bends that influence fracture distribution. Eutaw oil is produced strictly from footwall uplifts, whereas Selma oil is produced from fault-related fractures. Clay smear and mineralization may be significant trapping mechanisms in the Eutaw Formation. The critical seal for Selma reservoirs, by contrast, is where Tertiary clay in the hanging wall is juxtaposed with poorly fractured Selma chalk in the footwall. Gilbertown Field can be revitalized by infill drilling and recompletion of existing wells. Directional drilling may be a viable technique for recovering untapped oil from Selma chalk. Revitalization is now underway, and the first new production wells since 1985 are being drilled in the western part of the field.

Executive Summary In the fall of 2010, the Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs (ADECA) launched the Multi-State Model for Catalyzing the National Home Energy Retrofit Market Project (Multi-State Project). This residential energy efficiency pilot program was a collaborative effort among the states of Alabama, Massachusetts, Virginia, and Washington, and was funded by competitive State Energy Program (SEP) awards through the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). The objective of this project was to catalyze the home energy efficiency retrofit market in select areas within the state of Alabama. To achieve this goal, the project addressed a variety of marketplace elements that did not exist, or were underdeveloped, at the outset of the effort. These included establishing minimum standards and credentials for marketplace suppliers, educating and engaging homeowners on the benefits of energy efficiency and addressing real or perceived financial barriers to investments in whole-home energy efficiency, among others. The anticipated effect of the activities would be increased market demand for retrofits, improved audit to retrofit conversion rates and growth in overall community understanding of energy efficiency. The four-state collaborative was created with the intent of accelerating market transformation by allowing each state to learn from their peers, each of whom possessed different starting points, resources, and strategies for achieving the overall objective. The four partner states engaged the National Association of State Energy Officials (NASEO) to oversee a project steering committee and to manage the project evaluation for all four states. The steering committee, comprised of key program partners, met on a regular basis to provide overall project coordination, guidance, and progress assessment. While there were variances in program design among the states, there were several common elements: use of the Energy Performance Score (EPS) platform; an

Executive Summary In the fall of 2010, the Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs (ADECA) launched the Multi-State Model for Catalyzing the National Home Energy Retrofit Market Project (Multi-State Project). This residential energy efficiency pilot program was a collaborative effort among the states of Alabama, Massachusetts, Virginia, and Washington, and was funded by competitive State Energy Program (SEP) awards through the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). The objective of this project was to catalyze the home energy efficiency retrofit market in select areas within the state of Alabama. To achieve this goal, the project addressed a variety of marketplace elements that did not exist, or were underdeveloped, at the outset of the effort. These included establishing minimum standards and credentials for marketplace suppliers, educating and engaging homeowners on the benefits of energy efficiency and addressing real or perceived financial barriers to investments in whole-home energy efficiency, among others. The anticipated effect of the activities would be increased market demand for retrofits, improved audit to retrofit conversion rates and growth in overall community understanding of energy efficiency. The four-state collaborative was created with the intent of accelerating market transformation by allowing each state to learn from their peers, each of whom possessed different starting points, resources, and strategies for achieving the overall objective. The four partner states engaged the National Association of State Energy Officials (NASEO) to oversee a project steering committee and to manage the project evaluation for all four states. The steering committee, comprised of key program partners, met on a regular basis to provide overall project coordination, guidance, and progress assessment. While there were variances in program design among the states, there were several common elements: use of the Energy Performance Score (EPS) platform; an

... Maine Detachment Mobile at AUSTAL, USA, Mobile, AL; Restricted Area AGENCY: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers... parties for the restricted area around the AUSTAL, USA shipbuilding facility located in Mobile, Alabama... Gulf Coast) assumed the duties of administering new construction contracts at AUSTAL USA in...

The overwintering ecology of Culiseta melanura was studied in a seasonally flooded evergreen forest swamp in south central Connecticut in an effort to clarify which larval stages successfully overwinter in the northeastern USA, and to determine the degree to which larval development and/or mortality occur during the winter months. A total of 8,626 immature Cs. melanura were collected weekly for analysis from subterranean crypts and cavities located under the roots of trees from December 13, 2011 to May 31, 2012. Despite the formation of ice on the surface water at the entrance holes to the crypts, water temperatures within the cavities remained above freezing (average = 1.8 degrees C) throughout the coldest winter months of January and February. A heterogeneous population of 2nd, 3rd, and 4th instars were recovered throughout the winter and early spring in the same relative proportions (30%, 30%, 40%, respectively), with no significant change in their comparative abundance during this period, providing unequivocal evidence that all 3 instars successfully overwinter in the region. Findings further demonstrate that larvae undergo no development during the winter and do not appear to be impacted by any measurable mortality. The cessation of larval diapause and a resumption of development was observed in mid-April and was coincident with a gradual increase in water temperature within the crypts to 9 degrees C, in agreement with a previously calculated developmental thermal minimum of 8.5 degrees C for Cs. melanura. This resulted in a protracted period of pupation that encompassed a minimum of 5 wk, followed by a staggered emergence of adults and an overlap of the residual overwintering population with larvae of the 1st summer generation.

From 2010 to 2014, Alabama Power Company (“Alabama Power”) performed upgrades on four units at three of the hydropower developments it operates in east-central Alabama under licenses issued by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (“FERC”). These three hydropower developments are located on the Coosa River in Coosa, Chilton, and Elmore counties in east-central Alabama.

The Black Rock Desert volcanic field, located in west-central Utah, consists of ~30 small-volume monogenetic volcanoes with compositions ranging from small rhyolite domes to large basaltic lava flow fields. The field has exhibited bimodal volcanism for > 9 Ma with the most recent eruption of Ice Springs volcano ˜ 600 yrs ago. Together this eruptive history along with ongoing geothermal activity attests to the usefulness of a hazard assessment. The likelihood of a future eruption in this area has been calculated to be ˜ 8% over the next 1 Ka (95% confidence). However, many aspects of this field such as the explosivity and nature of many of these eruptions are not well known. The physical volcanology of the Tabernacle Hill volcano, suggests a complicated episodic eruption that may have lasted up to 50 yrs. The initial phreatomagmatic eruptions at Tabernacle Hill are reported to have begun ~14 Ka. This initial eruptive phase produced a tuff cone approximately 150 m high and 1.5 km in diameter with distinct bedding layers. Recent mapping and sampling of Tabernacle Hill's lava field, tuff cone and intra-crater deposits were aimed at better constraining the eruptive history, physical volcanology, and explosive energy associated with this eruption. Blocks ejected during the eruption were mapped and analyzed to yield minimum muzzle velocities of 60 - 70 meters per second. These velocities were used in conjunction with an estimated shallow depth of explosion to calculate an energy yield of ˜ 0.5 kT.

This podcast describes monitoring of the use of pulsed-field gel electrophoresis for Salmonella surveillance in Houston, Texas. CDC microbiologist Peter Gerner-Smidt discusses the importance of the PulseNet national database in surveillance of food-borne infections. Created: 6/14/2010 by National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases (NCEZID). Date Released: 6/14/2010.

Between Point Grenville, Washington, and Point Conception, California (1500 km distance) 21 dune fields record longshore transport in 20 littoral cells during the late Holocene. The direction of predominant littoral transport is established by relative positions of dune fields (north, central, or south) in 17 representative littoral cells. Dune field position is north of cell midpoints in northernmost Oregon and Washington, but is south of cell midpoints in southern Oregon and California. Downdrift sand trapping occurs at significant changes in shoreline angle and/or at bounding headlands that project at least 2.5 km seaward from the general coastal trend. Sand bypassing occurs around small headlands of less than 0.5 km in projection distance. A northward shift of the winter low-pressure center in the northeast Pacific Ocean is modeled from 11 ka to 0 ka. Nearshore current forcing in southern Oregon and northern California switched from northward in earliest Holocene time to southward in late Holocene time. The late Holocene (5-0 ka) is generally characterized by net northward littoral drift in northernmost Oregon and Washington and by net southward littoral drift in southernmost Oregon and California. A regional divergence of net transport direction in central Oregon, i.e. no net drift, is consistent with modeled wind and wave forcing at the present time (0 ka). ?? 2009 Elsevier B.V.

Full Text Available Arable lands are needed for sustainable agricultural systems to support an ever-growing human population. Soil quality needs to be defined to assure that new land brought into crop production is sustainable. To evaluate soil quality, a number of soil attributes will need to be measured, evaluated, and integrated into a soil-quality index using the multivariable indicator kriging (MVIK procedure. This study was conducted to determine the spatial variability and correlation of indicator parameters on a field scale with respect to soil quality and suitability for use with MVIK. The variability of the biological parameters decreased in the order of respiration > enzyme assays and qCO2 > microbial biomass C. The distribution frequency of all parameters except respiration were normal although the spatial distribution across the landscape was highly variable. The biological parameters showed little correlation with each other when all data points were considered; however, when grouped in smaller sections, the correlations were more consistent with observed patterns across the field. To accurately assess soil quality, and arable land use, consideration of spatial and temporal variability, soil conditions, and other controlling factors must be taken into account.

A month-long field experiment focused on the nearshore hydrodynamics of Diamond Shoals adjacent to Cape Hatteras Point, North Carolina, was conducted in February 2010. The objectives of this multi-institutional experiment were to test hypotheses related to Diamond Shoals as a sink in the regional sediment budget and to provide data for evaluating numerical models. The experiment included in-situ instrumentation for measuring waves and currents; a video camera system for measuring surface currents at a nearshore transect; a radar system for measuring regional surface currents over Diamond Shoals and the adjacent coast; a vehicle-based scanning lidar and radar system for mapping beach topography, nearshore wave breaking intensity, bathymetry (through wave celerity inversion), and wave direction; and an amphibious vehicle system for surveying single-beam bathymetry. Preliminary results from wave and current measurements suggest that shoal-building processes were active during the experiment.

Full Text Available The Arctic is currently undergoing intense changes in climate; vegetation composition and productivity are expected to respond to such changes. To understand the impacts of climate change on the function of Arctic tundra ecosystems within the global carbon cycle, it is crucial to improve the understanding of vegetation distribution and heterogeneity at multiple scales. Information detailing the fine-scale spatial distribution of tundra communities provided by high resolution vegetation mapping, is needed to understand the relative contributions of and relationships between single vegetation community measurements of greenhouse gas fluxes (e.g., ~1 m chamber flux and those encompassing multiple vegetation communities (e.g., ~300 m eddy covariance measurements. The objectives of this study were: (1 to determine whether dominant Arctic tundra vegetation communities found in different locations are spectrally distinct and distinguishable using field spectroscopy methods; and (2 to test which combination of raw reflectance and vegetation indices retrieved from field and satellite data resulted in accurate vegetation maps and whether these were transferable across locations to develop a systematic method to map dominant vegetation communities within larger eddy covariance tower footprints distributed along a 300 km transect in northern Alaska. We showed vegetation community separability primarily in the 450–510 nm, 630–690 nm and 705–745 nm regions of the spectrum with the field spectroscopy data. This is line with the different traits of these arctic tundra communities, with the drier, often non-vascular plant dominated communities having much higher reflectance in the 450–510 nm and 630–690 nm regions due to the lack of photosynthetic material, whereas the low reflectance values of the vascular plant dominated communities highlight the strong light absorption found here. High classification accuracies of 92% to 96% were achieved using

In Wattenberg Field the Niobrara Formation is the primary productive zone for horizontal drilling and completions. It is an unconventional reservoir made up of alternating chalk and marl layers which require hydraulic fracturing for completion. The main study area for this project is a four square mile region where time-lapse multicomponent seismic surveys have been acquired. This area includes the Wishbone section, where 11 horizontal wells have been drilled, and is the focus of dynamic reservoir characterization. The primary goal of this research study is to investigate relationships between geomechanics, stress and fractures. Determining the geomechanical properties of the reservoir is essential for better reservoir management. Geology is the main driver controlling production, due to the presence of fault compartmentalization in the field. The central graben, within the Wishbone section, causes geologic heterogeneity and displays signs of high net pressure. This is due to a larger increase in pore pressure, ultimately decreasing effective stress. Outside of the graben, naturally fractured areas, displaying decreasing net pressure trends, will maximize fracture network surface area during completions. This allows for a larger volume of rock to be stimulated, and a greater chance of opening pre-existing fractures. As far as re-fracturing efforts are concerned, areas outside of the graben which are brittle and have low stress anisotropy should be targeted to create complex fracture networks. Geomechanical and stress information about the reservoir is vital for predicting fracture propagation. After investigation of fracture characterization trends, we have a better understanding of stimulated areas within the Wishbone section. Specific completion techniques can be applied to stages based on geomechanical properties and geologic location. Fracture networks defined through the integrated dynamic reservoir characterization process provide targets for future re

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — This data set contains vector lines and polygons representing coastal hydrography used in the creation of the Environmental Sensitivity Index (ESI) for Alabama. The...

US Fish and Wildlife Service, Department of the Interior — Newspaper article on the vulnerability of watercress darter and other fish species in Alabama after a significant fish kill in Roebuck Spring pond in 2008.

The impact of MC252 oil on northern Gulf of Mexico (GOM) beaches from the 2010 Deepwater Horizon (DWH) catastrophe was extensive along Alabama's beaches. While considerable amount of cleanup has occurred along these beaches, as of August 2014, DWH oil spill residues continue to be found as surface residual balls (SRBs), and also occasionally as submerged oil mats (SOMs). Four years of field observations informing the fate and transport of DWH SRBs in Alabama's beach system are presented here, along with a conceptual framework for describing their physical evolution processes. The observation data show that SRBs containing MC252 residues currently remain in Alabama's beach system, although their relationship to SOMs is not fully known. Based on our field observations we conclude that small DWH SRBs are likely to persist for several years along the Alabama shoreline.

Three slim holes were drilled at the Steamboat Hills Geothermal Field in northwestern Nevada about 15 km south of Reno. The slim holes were drilled to investigate the geologic conditions, thermal regime and productive characteristics of the geothermal system. They were completed through a geologic sequence consisting of alluvium cemented by geothermal fluids, volcaniclastic materials, and granodiorite. Numerous fractures, mostly sealed, were encountered throughout the drilled depth; however, several open fractures in the granodiorite, dipping between 65 and 90{degree}, had apertures up to 13 mm in width. The depths of the slim holes vary from 262 to 277 m with open-hole diameters of 76 mm. Pressure and temperature logs gave bottom-hole temperatures ranging from 163 to 166{degree} C. During injection testing, downhole pressures were measured using capillary tubing with a surface quartz transducer while temperatures were measured with a Kuster temperature tool located below the capillary tubing pressure chamber. No pressure increase was measured at reservoir depths in any of the three slim holes while injecting 11 kg/s of 29{degree}C water indicating a very high permeability in the geothermal reservoir. These injection test results suggested that productive geothermal fluids could be found at depths sufficient for well pumping equipment and at temperatures needed for electrical power production using binary-type conversion technology.

Atmospheric stability conditions in the atmospheric surface layer control the distance and direction of transport of air contaminants. Near confined animal facilities, transport processes significantly impact air quality as these sites typically act as point sources of dust and odor constituents; however, little information is available on atmospheric stability effects. This study was conducted to assess year-round temporal patterns of atmospheric stability at a swine production facility and an adjacent commercial corn field (CF) in the US Midwest. Two towers of 10 and 20 m heights for continuous micrometeorological measurements were deployed within a CF and between swine buildings (BSB), respectively. Each tower was equipped with an eddy-covariance system at 6.8 m height, infrared thermometers, and six cup anemometers with thermocouples installed at log-distributed heights. Overall results from gradient Richardson number and Monin-Obukhov (z/L) calculations revealed a greater prevalence of unstable conditions for BSB compared with CF. During the 13-month measurement period, unstable cases (z/L ranging from -1 to -0.01) occurred 1.4 times more frequently for BSB than CF (52 vs. 39%, respectively), while stable cases (0.011-0.2) were 1.8 times more frequent for CF than BSB (24 vs. 14%, respectively). These patterns were partly associated with higher surface radiometric temperatures for BSB. Relatively greater diurnal heat capture at BSB (ground and roof surfaces) and a cooling effect in CF through active canopy transpiration during the daytime explain these z/L and radiometric temperature results. Prevalent diurnal atmospheric instability at BSB suggests enhanced ascendant vertical transport of air pollutants perhaps causing greater mixing/dilution with the atmospheric layer and/or their facilitated transport over greater distances when sorbed onto particles. This enhanced understanding of the spatio-temporal patterns of atmospheric stability can be subsequently

A combined petrographic/X-ray/electron microprobe and energy dispersive system investigation of sandstone cuttings from borehole Elmore # 1 near the center of the Salton Sea Geothermal Field has revealed numerous regular variations in the composition, texture, mineralogy and proportions of the authigenic layer silicate minerals in the temperature interval 185° C (411.5 m depth) to 361° C (2,169 m). At temperatures near 190° C, dolomite/ankerite+calcite-bearing sandstones contain an illite/mixed layer phase with 10% expandable layers (dolomite/ankerite zone). In shale, the percentage of expandable layers in the mixed layer phase changes from 10 15% at 185° C to 5% at 210° C (494 m). In the interval 250° C (620 m) to 325° C (1,135 m), the calcite+pyrite+epidote-bearing sandstones contain a layer silicate assemblage of chlorite and illite (chlorite-calcite zone). In the shallower portions of this metamorphic zone, the illite contains 0 5% expandable layers, while at depths greater than 725 m (275° C) it is completely free of expandable layers. On increasing temperature, the white mica shows regular decreases in SiIV, Mg and Fe, and increase in AlIV, AlVI, and interlayer occupancy, as it changes gradually from fine-grained illite (=textural sericite) to coarse-grained recrystallized phengitic white mica. In the same interval, chlorite shows decreases in AlVI and octahedral vacancies and an increase in total Mg+Fe. The sandstones range from relatively unmodified detrital-textured rocks with porosities up to 20% and high contents of illite near 250° C to relatively dense hornfelsic-textured rocks with trace amounts of chlorite and phengite and porosities near 5% at 325° C. Numerous complex reactions among detrital (allogenic) biotite, chlorite, and muscovite, and authigenic illite and chlorite, occur in the chlorite-calcite zone. Biotite appears, and calcite disappears, at a temperature near 325° C and a depth of 1,135m. The biotite zone so produced persists

The 40Ar/39Ar investigations of a large suite of fine-grained basaltic rocks of the Boring volcanic field (BVF), Oregon and Washington (USA), yielded two primary results. (1) Using age control from paleomagnetic polarity, stratigraphy, and available plateau ages, 40Ar/39Ar recoil model ages are defined that provide reliable age results in the absence of an age plateau, even in cases of significant Ar redistribution. (2) Grouping of eruptive ages either by period of activity or by composition defines a broadly northward progression of BVF volcanism during latest Pliocene and Pleistocene time that reflects rates consistent with regional plate movements. Based on the frequency distribution of measured ages, periods of greatest volcanic activity within the BVF occurred 2.7–2.2 Ma, 1.7–0.5 Ma, and 350–50 ka. Grouped by eruptive episode, geographic distributions of samples define a series of northeast-southwest–trending strips whose centers migrate from south-southeast to north-northwest at an average rate of 9.3 ± 1.6 mm/yr. Volcanic activity in the western part of the BVF migrated more rapidly than that to the east, causing trends of eruptive episodes to progress in an irregular, clockwise sense. The K2O and CaO values of dated samples exhibit well-defined temporal trends, decreasing and increasing, respectively, with age of eruption. Divided into two groups by K2O, the centers of these two distributions define a northward migration rate similar to that determined from eruptive age groups. This age and compositional migration rate of Boring volcanism is similar to the clockwise rotation rate of the Oregon Coast Range with respect to North America, and might reflect localized extension on the trailing edge of that rotating crustal block.

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — This data set contains sensitive biological resource data for Alabama and Perdido Key beach mice in Alabama. Vector polygons in this data set represent the rare...

Full Text Available This study examines the Alabama Department of Corrections August 2009 Monthly Statistical Report and Fiscal Year 2008 Annual Report, recent articles to explain the serious public safety issue of prison overcrowding within the state of Alabama, lack of funding and correctional staff, and increasing violence among inmates. It is imperative that the stakeholders take a restorative justice approach to offenders who commit nonviolent crimes or otherwise be prepared to release substantial numbers of violent inmates due to federal court intervention, expanding parole, and other types of early release programs. Violent offenders will pose a greater threat to the community. Correctional workers continue to be exposed daily to the risk of injury or death caused by severe prison overcrowding. The state could experience additional financial hardship to rebuild a destroyed correctional facility in an event of a riot. The excessive use of incarceration for nonviolent offenders is one of the most important issues facing the state of Alabama this decade.

Alabama is currently the southern limit of the range of eastern hemlock [Tsuga canadensis (L.)Â Carriere]. In 2012, several well preserved stumps were excavated from a farm located in Notasulga, AlabamaÂ (32 Âº 33â 6â N; 85Âº 40â 22â W). Even though they were buried in a saturated soil for approximately 1,500 years,Â the stumps were remarkably well preserved. The low-...

US Fish and Wildlife Service, Department of the Interior — Between 1988 and 1990 the Daphne, AlabamaField Office, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) conducted a contaminant study on the Tombigbee River near McIntosh,...

The main objective of this study is to conduct quantitative seismic reservoir characterization study of the Granite Wash (Marmaton-tight sand) play at Stiles Ranch field in the Anadarko Basin, Texas (USA). The proposed methodology incorporates seismic petrophysics, rock physics, Amplitude Variation with Offset (AVO) analysis and seismic pre-stack simultaneous elastic impedance inversion. In addition, it utilizes geostatistical technique to improve the reservoir property estimation and quantify uncertainty in seismic lithology and fluid prediction. The general objective encompasses several more specific goals to study: well data conditioning and prediction of essential petrophysical properties (e.g., porosity, permeability and saturation), and their relationship to the elastic properties. Due to the multidisciplinary nature of seismic petrophysics, only three core aspects are focused on that cover the desired objectives: 1) porosity modeling, 2) shear wave prediction, and (3) fluid substitution. The rock types are characterized by Rock Physics Diagnostic (RPD) approach conducted on well log data calibrated with core data and thin sections. The Granite Wash reservoir elastic properties are upscaled from log to seismic scale using Backus averaging to obtain a more coarsely (upscaled) sampled data set equivalent to the seismic scale. Anisotropy parametric (epsilon, gamma and delta) log curves are estimated consistent with seismic measurements using rock properties, seismic velocity and clay volume (Vsh) as a function of depth. The reservoir elastic properties are related to both the depositional environment and burial history through rock physics depth trends as function of depth. Furthermore, based on the practical aspects two separate inversion approaches; AVO and Elastic Impedance (EI) are evaluated prior to their application to real seismic. Various AVO derived attribute volumes such as intercept (A), gradient (B) and reflection coefficients (scaled Poisson's ratio

One of 6 state reports generated by the Regional Curriculum Project (funded under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act), the document describes 4 specific projects implemented through the Alabama State Superintendent's Office beginning in 1966. All 4 projects were designed to improve instructional leadership by defining the role(s) of the…

... Section 503(a) of the Act permits a State to assume primacy for the regulation of surface coal mining and... amendments to its program under SMCRA (30 U.S.C. 1201 et seq.). Alabama's revised mining regulations are... regulation of surface coal mining and reclamation operations. One of the purposes of SMCRA is to ``establish...

The control of rabies in raccoons (Procyon lotor) and striped skunks (Mephitis mephitis) in North America has been conducted mainly through aerial distribution of oral vaccine-baits. The effectiveness of the vaccine-bait used is therefore of prime importance for disease eradication. In a previous field comparison between the ONRAB(®) bait in the province of New Brunswick, Canada, and RABORAL V-RG(®) bait in the state of Maine, USA, the ONRAB bait produced a higher percentage of antibody-positive raccoons under nearly identical bait distribution for the two vaccines. The main objective of the present study was to conduct a similar cross-border comparison of these two vaccine-baits using raccoon sera collected during post-oral rabies vaccination monitoring in Québec, Canada, and Vermont, USA, where ONRAB and V-RG, respectively, were distributed aerially at a targeted density of 150 baits/km(2). A comparison of the equivalency of two serologic tests used in Canada and the USA was also conducted using sera from raccoons and striped skunks. Rabies virus neutralization assay (USA) yielded similar results to the competitive enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (Canada), with agreement between the two tests of 92% for raccoon sera and 96% for skunk sera. With both assays, the percentage of antibody-positive raccoons was greater with ONRAB (51%, n=265) than with V-RG (38%, n=66). These new results support the conclusion from the previous study, that ONRAB vaccine-baits may be more effective for the control of rabies in raccoons.

The Second International Planetary Dunes Workshop took place in Alamosa, Colorado, USA from May 18-21, 2010. The workshop brought together researchers from diverse backgrounds to foster discussion and collaboration regarding terrestrial and extra-terrestrial dunes and dune systems. Two and a half days were spent on five oral sessions and one poster session, a full-day field trip to Great Sand Dunes National Park, with a great deal of time purposefully left open for discussion. On the last day of the workshop, participants assembled a list of thirteen priorities for future research on planetary dune systems. ?? 2010.

The Deep Convective Clouds and Chemistry (DC3) field campaign investigates the impact of deep, midlatitude convective clouds, including their dynamical, physical and lighting processes, on upper tropospheric composition and chemistry. DC3 science operations took place from 14 May to 30 June 2012. The DC3 field campaign utilized instrumented aircraft and ground ]based observations. The NCAR Gulfstream ]V (GV) observed a variety of gas ]phase species, radiation and cloud particle characteristics in the high ]altitude outflow of storms while the NASA DC ]8 characterized the convective inflow. Groundbased radar networks were used to document the kinematic and microphysical characteristics of storms. In order to study the impact of lightning on convective outflow composition, VHF ]based lightning mapping arrays (LMAs) provided detailed three ]dimensional measurements of flashes. Mobile soundings were utilized to characterize the meteorological environment of the convection. Radar, sounding and lightning observations were also used in real ]time to provide forecasting and mission guidance to the aircraft operations. Combined aircraft and ground ]based observations were conducted at three locations, 1) northeastern Colorado, 2) Oklahoma/Texas and 3) northern Alabama, to study different modes of deep convection in a variety of meteorological and chemical environments. The objective of this paper is to summarize the Alabama ground operations and provide a preliminary assessment of the ground ]based observations collected over northern Alabama during DC3. The multi ] Doppler, dual ]polarization radar network consisted of the UAHuntsville Advanced Radar for Meteorological and Operational Research (ARMOR), the UAHuntsville Mobile Alabama X ]band (MAX) radar and the Hytop (KHTX) Weather Surveillance Radar 88 Doppler (WSR ]88D). Lightning frequency and structure were observed in near real ]time by the NASA MSFC Northern Alabama LMA (NALMA). Pre ]storm and inflow proximity

Symptoms typical of cucurbit yellow vine disease (CYVD) were first observed in a 2 ha watermelon field in Crawford, Russell County, Alabama on 8 June 2010. Watermelon plants, cv. 'Jubilee,' exhibited a yellow or chlorotic appearance and some plants were completely wilted. On 24 June plant samples ...

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between the size of Alabama's public high schools, selected school quality and financial indicators, and their students' performance on standardized exams. When the socioeconomic level of the student bodies is held constant, the size of high schools in Alabama has relatively little…

In a state with a very large, highly mechanized timber harvesting industry, animal-powered logging still occupies a niche in Alabama as a small-scale harvesting alternative. This article summarizes the results from a study that examined the extent of animal logging in Alabama. We investigated this topic by asking who is logging with animals, where are they working,...

Presents the views of Alabama university scholars regarding the historical significance of the 2001 trial of Thomas Blanton for his role in the Ku Klux Klan bombing of the Sixteenth Street Baptist church in Birmingham, Alabama thet killed four girls. Their discussions note the need to examine the American judicial system, the weak case against Mr.…

Excavation will hold a key role for future lunar missions. NASA has stated that "advances in lunar regolith mining have the potential to significantly contribute to our nation's space vision and NASA space exploration operations." [1]. The Lunabotics Mining Competition is an event hosted by NASA that is meant to encourage "the development of innovative lunar excavation concepts from universities which may result in clever ideas and solutions which could be applied to an actual lunar excavation device or payload." [2]. Teams entering the competition must "design and build a remote controlled or autonomous excavator, called a lunabot, that can collect and deposit a minimum of 10 kilograms of lunar simulant within 10 minutes." [2]. While excavation will play an important part in lunar missions, there will still be many other tasks that would benefit from robotic assistance. An excavator might not be as well suited for these tasks as other types of robots might be. For example a lightweight rover would do well with reconnaissance, and a mobile gripper arm would be fit for manipulation, while an excavator would be comparatively clumsy and slow in both cases. Even within the realm of excavation it would be beneficial to have different types of excavators for different tasks, as there are on Earth. The Alabama Lunabotics Team at the University of Alabama has made it their goal to not only design and build a robot that could compete in the Lunabotics Mining Competition, but would also be a multipurpose tool for future NASA missions. The 2010-2011 resulting robot was named the Modular Omnidirectional Lunar Excavator (MOLE). Using the Systems Engineering process and building off of two years of Lunabotics experience, the 20ll-2012 Alabama Lunabotics team (Team NASACAR) has improved the MOLE 1.0 design and optimized it for the 2012 Lunabotics Competition rules [I]. A CAD model of MOLE 2.0 can be seen below in Fig. 1.

Full Text Available Purpose: The purpose of this study is to identify effective strategies used by Alabama hospitals to manage drug shortages. Moreover, this study aims to determine if there are any relationships among hospital size, utilization of a standard policy for drug shortage management and perceived usefulness of standard procedures for drug shortages.Methods: A paper survey was mailed to 129 hospital pharmacies in Alabama (per the Alabama Hospital Association directory. The survey consisted of 5 demographic questions, questions involving perception of current medication shortages, sources of information about shorted drugs, and frequency of discussion at P&T committee meetings. Most importantly, the survey contained questions about the use of a standard policy for handling drug shortages, the effectiveness of the policy if one is used, and an open-ended question asking the recipient to describe the policy being used.Results: A response rate of 55% was achieved as 71 surveys were completed and returned. Approximately 70% of the survey respondents described the current drug shortage issue as a top priority in their pharmacy department. The pharmacy distributor served as the primary source of information regarding drug shortages for 45% of the facilities. There is a direct relationship between size of hospital and likelihood of utilization of a standard policy or procedure for drug shortage management among the sample. The smaller facilities of the sample perceived their management strategies as effective more frequently than the larger hospitals.Conclusion: Common components of effective management strategies included extensive communication of shortage details and the ability to locate alternative products. The use of portable technology (e.g., Smart phones and tablets along with mobile applications may emerge as popular means for communicating drug product shortage news and updates within a facility or healthcare system.

We raised embryos and tadpoles of green frogs (Rana clamitans melanota) and leopard frogs (R. pipiens) in situ along a contamination gradient in the Fox River/Green Bay ecosystem (WI, USA). Differences in exposure were reflected by significant positive regressions between concentrations in sediment and in frogs of polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) congeners and some heavy metals (Cd, Cr, and Pb), which could have predictive value for estimating exposure of amphibians to contaminants in this ecosystem and, perhaps, in others. On average, non-ortho-substituted coplanar PCBs made up a very small percentage (average, 0.2%) of the PCB congeners in all samples analyzed, with larger fractions accounted for by mono- and di-ortho congeners (average, 19%) and routine congeners (average, 81%). Hatchability of frog embryo batches and anuran species richness at the sites were negatively correlated with level of contamination, but tadpole growth and survival were not. Sediment and tissue levels of PCBs and metals generally were correlated with each other, confounding the association of effects on frogs with any particular contaminant. It is also plausible that high levels of un-ionized ammonia (NH3) reduced hatching success of green frog, but not leopard frog, embryos in the field enclosures. Other environmental factors that were present but unmeasured in the field, such as ultraviolet-B radiation as well as water flow and level fluctuations, might have caused differences in hatching success at the field sites.

... AGENCY Public Water System Supervision Program Revision for the State of Alabama AGENCY: Environmental... of Alabama is revising its approved Public Water System Supervision Program. Alabama has adopted the..., EPA is tentatively approving this revision to the State of Alabama's Public Water System...

... AGENCY Public Water System Supervision Program Revision for the State of Alabama AGENCY: Environmental... of Alabama is revising its approved Public Water System Supervision Program. Alabama has adopted the... State of Alabama's Public Water System Supervision Program. DATES: Any interested person may request...

... AGENCY Biological Processors of Alabama; Decatur, Morgan County, AL; Notice of Settlement AGENCY... Biological Processors of Alabama Superfund Site located in Decatur, Morgan County, Alabama. DATES: The Agency... name Biological Processors of Alabama Superfund Site by one of the following methods:...

Although monogenetic volcanic fields pose hazards to major cities worldwide, their shallow magma feeders (volcanic field, Arizona, to shed light on the nature of its magma feeder system. Shallow exposures reveal a transition zone between intrusion and eruption within 350 m of the syn-eruptive surface. Using a combination of field- and satellite-based observations, we have identified three types of shallow magma systems: (1) dike-dominated, (2) sill-dominated, and (3) interconnected dike-sill networks. Analysis of vent alignments using the pyroclastic massifs and other eruptive centers (e.g., maar-diatremes) shows a NW-SE trend, parallel to that of dikes in the region. We therefore infer that dikes fed many of the eruptions. Dikes are also observed in places transforming to transgressive (ramping) sills. Estimates of the observable volume of dikes (maximum volume of 1.90 × 106 m3) and sills (minimum volume of 8.47 × 105 m3) in this study reveal that sills at Hopi Buttes make up at least 30 % of the shallow intruded volume (∼2.75 × 106 m3 total) within 350 m of the paeosurface. We have also identified saucer-shaped sills, which are not traditionally associated with monogenetic volcanic fields. Our study demonstrates that shallow feeders in monogenetic fields can form geometrically complex networks, particularly those intruding poorly consolidated sedimentary rocks. We conclude that the Hopi Buttes eruptions were primarily fed by NW-SE-striking dikes. However, saucer-shaped sills also played an important role in modulating eruptions by transporting magma toward and away from eruptive conduits. Sill development could have been accompanied by surface uplifts on the order of decimeters. We infer that the characteristic feeder systems described here for the Hopi Buttes may underlie monogenetic fields elsewhere, particularly where magma intersects shallow, and often weak, sedimentary rocks. Results from this study support growing evidence of the

Identifying the mechanism by which the injected CO2 is stored in underground reservoirs is a key challenge for carbon sequestration. Developing tracing tools that are universally deployable will increase confidence that CO2 remains safely stored. CO2 has been injected into the Cranfield enhanced oil recovery (EOR) field (MS, USA) since 2008 and significant amount of CO2 has remained (stored) in the reservoir. Noble gases (He, Ne, Ar, Kr, Xe) are present as minor natural components in the injected CO2. He, Ne and Ar previously have been shown to be powerful tracers of the CO2 injected in the field (Györe et al., 2015). It also has been implied that interaction with the formation water might have been responsible for the observed CO2 loss. Here we will present work, which examines the role of reservoir fluids as a CO2 sink by examining non-radiogenic noble gas isotopes (20Ne, 36Ar, 84Kr, 132Xe). Gas samples from injection and production wells were taken 18 and 45 months after the start of injection. We will show that the fractionation of noble gases relative to Ar is consistent with the different degrees of CO2 - fluid interaction in the individual samples. The early injection samples indicate that the CO2 injected is in contact with the formation water. The spatial distribution of the data reveal significant heterogeneity in the reservoir with some wells exhibiting a relatively free flow path, where little formation water is contacted. Significantly, in the samples, where CO2 loss has been previously identified show active and ongoing contact. Data from the later stage of the injection shows that the CO2 - oil interaction has became more important than the CO2 - formation water interaction in controlling the noble gas fingerprint. This potentially provides a means to estimate the oil displacement efficiency. This dataset is a demonstration that noble gases can resolve CO2 storage mechanisms and its interaction with the reservoir fluids with high resolution

Full Text Available Better understanding of surface water (SW and groundwater (GW interactions and water balances has become indispensable for water management decisions. This study sought to characterize SW-GW interactions in three crop fields located in three different irrigated valleys in northern New Mexico by (1 estimating deep percolation (DP below the root zone in flood-irrigated crop fields; and (2 characterizing shallow aquifer response to inputs from DP associated with irrigation. Detailed measurements of irrigation water application, soil water content fluctuations, crop field runoff, and weather data were used in the water budget calculations for each field. Shallow wells were used to monitor groundwater level response to DP inputs. The amount of DP was positively and significantly related to the total amount of irrigation water applied for the Rio Hondo and Alcalde sites, but not for the El Rito site. The average irrigation event DP using data for the complete irrigation season at each of the three sites was 77.0 mm at El Rito, 54.5 mm at Alcalde and 53.1 mm at Rio Hondo. Groundwater level rise compared to pre-irrigation event water levels ranged from 3 to 1870 mm, and was influenced by differences in irrigation practices between sites. Crop evapotranspiration estimates averaged across irrigation events were highest in Rio Hondo (22.9 mm, followed by El Rito (14.4 mm and Alcalde (10.4 mm. Results from this study indicate there are strong surface water-groundwater connections in traditionally irrigated systems of northern New Mexico, connections that may be employed to better manage groundwater recharge and river flow.

Through extensive collaboration, Alabama Institute for Deaf and Blind (AIDB) is Alabama's first educational entity to initiate a biodiesel public education, student training and production program, Project Green. With state and national replication potential, Project Green benefits local businesses and city infrastructures within a 120-mile radius; provides alternative education to Alabama school systems and to schools for the deaf and blind in Appalachian States; trains students with sensory and/or multiple disabilities in the acquisition and production of biodiesel; and educates the external public on alternative fuels benefits.

On 30 November the USA Atomic Energy Commission and the USSR State Committee for the Utilization of Atomic Energy signed, in Washington, a protocol 'on carrying out of joint projects in the field of high energy physics at the accelerators of the National Accelerator Laboratory (Batavia) and the Institute for High Energy Physics (Serpukhov)'. The protocol will be in force for five years and can be extended by mutual agreement.

Groundwater, surface water, and soil in the Goose Lake oil field in northeastern Montana have been affected by Cl−-rich oil-field brines during long-term petroleum production. Ongoing multidisciplinary geochemical and geophysical studies have identified the degree and local extent of interaction between brine and groundwater. Fourteen samples representing groundwater, surface water, and brine were collected for Sr isotope analyses to evaluate the usefulness of 87Sr/86Sr in detecting small amounts of brine. Differences in Sr concentrations and 87Sr/86Sr are optimal at this site for the experiment. Strontium concentrations range from 0.13 to 36.9 mg/L, and corresponding 87Sr/86Sr values range from 0.71097 to 0.70828. The local brine has 168 mg/L Sr and a 87Sr/86Sr value of 0.70802. Mixing relationships are evident in the data set and illustrate the sensitivity of Sr in detecting small amounts of brine in groundwater. The location of data points on a Sr isotope-concentration plot is readily explained by an evaporation-mixing model. The model is supported by the variation in concentrations of most of the other solutes.

Residues of organic contaminants--including toxaphene, DDT, trifluralin, hexachlorocyclohexanes, polychlorinated biphenyls, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and nonylphenol--were measured in 32 cotton field soils collected from South Carolina and Georgia in 1999. Toxaphene, trifluralin, DDT and PAHs were the major contaminants found in these soils. The maximum concentration of toxaphene measured was 2,500 ng/g dry weight. Trifluralin was detected in all the soils at concentrations ranging from 1 to 548 ng/g dry weight. Pesticide residues were not proportional to soil organic carbon content, indicating that their concentrations were a reflection of application history and dissipation rates rather than air-soil equilibrium. Soil extracts were also subjected to in vitro bioassays to assess dioxinlike, estrogenic, and androgenic/glucocorticoid potencies. Relatively more polar fractions of the soils elicited estrogenic and androgenic/glucocorticoid activities, but the magnitude of response was much less than those found in coastal marine sediments from industrialized locations.

In many farmed areas, intensive application of agricultural chemicals and withdrawal of groundwater for irrigation have led to water quality and supply issues. Unsaturated-zone processes, including preferential flow, play a major role in these effects but are not well understood. In the Bogue Phalia basin, an intensely agricultural area in the Delta region of northwestern Mississippi, the fine-textured soils often exhibit surface ponding and runoff after irrigation and rainfall as well as extensive surface cracking during prolonged dry periods. Fields are typically land-formed to promote surface flow into drainage ditches and streams that feed into larger river ecosystems. Downward flow of water below the root zone is considered minimal; regional groundwater models predict only 5% or less of precipitation recharges the heavily used alluvial aquifer. In this study transport mechanisms within and below the root zone of a fallow soybean field were assessed by performing a 2-m ring infiltration test with tracers and subsurface monitoring instruments. Seven months after tracer application, 48 continuous cores were collected for tracer extraction to define the extent of water movement and quantify preferential flow using a mass-balance approach. Vertical water movement was rapid below the pond indicating the importance of vertical preferential flow paths in the shallow unsaturated zone, especially to depths where agricultural disturbance occurs. Lateral flow of water at shallow depths was extensive and spatially non-uniform, reaching up to 10. m from the pond within 2. months. Within 1. month, the wetting front reached a textural boundary at 4-5. m between the fine-textured soil and sandy alluvium, now a potential capillary barrier which, prior to extensive irrigation withdrawals, was below the water table. Within 10. weeks, tracer was detectable at the water table which is presently about 12. m below land surface. Results indicate that 43% of percolation may be through

Processes contributing to development of ephemeral gully channels are of great importance to landscapes worldwide, and particularly in dryland regions where soil loss and land degradation from gully erosion pose long-term land-management problems. Whereas gully formation has been relatively well studied, much less is known of the processes that anneal gullies and impede their growth. This study of gully annealing by aeolian sediment, spanning 95 km along the Colorado River corridor in Glen, Marble, and Grand Canyon, Arizona, USA, employed field and remote sensing observations, including digital topographic modelling. Results indicate that aeolian sediment activity can be locally effective at counteracting gully erosion. Gullies are less prevalent in areas where surficial sediment undergoes active aeolian transport, and have a greater tendency to terminate in active aeolian sand. Although not common, examples exist in the record of historical imagery of gullies that underwent infilling by aeolian sediment in past decades and evidently were effectively annealed. We thus provide new evidence for a potentially important interaction of aeolian–hillslope–fluvial processes, which could affect dryland regions substantially in ways not widely recognized. Moreover, because the biologic soil crust plays an important role in determining aeolian sand activity, and so in turn the extent of gully development, this study highlights a critical role of geomorphic–ecologic interactions in determining arid-landscape evolution.

Topographic data at selected areas within the Alabama River flood plain near Montgomery, Alabama, were collected using a truck-mounted mobile terrestrial light detection and ranging system. These data were collected for inclusion in a flood inundation model developed by the National Weather Service in Birmingham, Alabama. Data are presented as ArcGIS point shapefiles with the extension .shp.

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — This data set contains sensitive biological resource data for dolphins and manatees in Alabama. Vector polygons in this data set represent marine mammal distribution...

Final report on solar-heating demonstration project in Huntsville, Alabama, is rich in technical data, planning considerations, test and maintenance data, and other information. It can be useful reference for those planning similar systems.

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — This data set contains vector lines and polygons representing the shoreline and coastal habitats for Alabama, classified according to the Environmental Sensitivity...

US Fish and Wildlife Service, Department of the Interior — Fort McClellan is a military base located in the mountains of northeast Alabama (see Fig.1). Municipalities and communities surrounding Main Post include the City of...

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — The MAFLA (Mississippi, Alabama, Florida) Study was funded by NOAA as part of the Outer Continental Shelf Program. Dr. L.J. Doyle produced grain size analyses in the...

The Steamboat Hills Geothermal Field in northwestern Nevada, about 15 km south of Reno, is a shallow (150m to 825m) moderate temperature (155 C to 168 C) liquid-dominated geothermal reservoir situated in highly-fractured granodiorite. Three injection wells were drilled and completed in granodiorite to dispose of spent geothermal fluids from the Steamboat II and III power plants (a 30 MW air-cooled binary-type facility). Injection wells were targeted to depths below 300m to inject spent fluids below producing fractures. First, quasi-static downhole pressure-temperature-spinner (PTS) logs were obtained. Then, the three wells were injection-tested using fluids between 80 C and 106 C at rates from 70 kg/s to 200 kg/s. PTS logs were run both up and down the wells during these injection tests. These PTS surveys have delineated the subsurface fracture zones which will accept fluid. The relative injectivity of the wells was also established. Shut-in interzonal flow within the wells was identified and characterized.

Here we report field, petrographic, and geochemical analyses of the southeast Missouri Avon Volcanic District intrusive rocks and present the first combined textural and geochemical evidence for the presence of a primary magmatic carbonatite phase among ultramafic dikes, pipes, and diatremes of olivine melilitite, alnöite, and calciocarbonatite. The δ13CVPDB values measured for primary calciocarbonatite as well as carbonates in olivine melilitite and alnöite rocks range from - 3.8‰ to - 8.2‰, which are within the typical range of mantle values and are distinct from values of the carbonate country rocks, 0.0‰ to - 1.3‰. The carbonate oxygen isotope compositions for the intrusive lithologies are in the range of 21.5‰ to 26.2‰ (VSMOW), consistent with post-emplacement low temperature hydrothermal alteration or kinetic fractionation effects associated with decompression and devolatilization. Metasomatized country rock and breccia-contaminated igneous lithologies have carbonate δ13CVPDB values gradational between primary carbonatite values and country rock values. Unaltered sedimentary dolomite breccia and mafic spheroids entrained by calciocarbonatite and the lack of microstratigraphic crystal growth typical of carbonate replacement, also exclude the possibility of hydrothermal replacement as the cause of the magmatic-textured carbonates. Rare earth element (REE) patterns for the alnöite, olivine melilitite, and carbonatite are similar to each other with strong light REE enrichment and heavy REE depletion relative to MORB. These patterns are distinct from those of country rock rhyolite and sedimentary carbonate. These data suggest that rocks of the Avon Volcanic District represent a single ultramafic-carbonatite intrusive complex possibly derived from a single mantle source.

Control of rabies in mesocarnivore reservoirs through oral rabies vaccination (ORV) requires an effective vaccine bait. Oral rabies vaccine performance in the field may be affected by a variety of factors, including vaccine bait density and distribution pattern, habitat, target species population density, and the availability of competing foods. A field study in which these covariates were restricted as much as possible was conducted along the international border of the state of Maine (ME), USA, and the province of New Brunswick (NB), Canada, to compare the performance of two oral rabies vaccines in raccoons (Procyon lotor) and striped skunks (Mephitis mephitis). RABORAL V-RG(®) (vaccinia-rabies glycoprotein recombinant oral vaccine in fishmeal-coated sachet) or ONRAB(®) (adenovirus-rabies glycoprotein recombinant oral vaccine in Ultralite bait matrix) were distributed in ME and NB, respectively, by fixed-wing aircraft at a density of 75 baits/km(2) along parallel flight lines spaced 1.0 km apart. Sera were collected from live-trapped raccoons and skunks 5-7 wk post-ORV and assayed to determine antibody prevalence in each area. Duplicate serum samples were provided blind to two different laboratories for analyses by rabies virus serum neutralization assays (at both laboratories) and a competitive enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (at one laboratory). There was no significant difference in the proportion of antibody-positive animals determined by the three serologic methods, nor was there a significant difference between ONRAB and RABORAL V-RG in the proportion of antibody-positive striped skunks observed post-ORV. In contrast, the proportion of antibody-positive raccoons was significantly higher in the ONRAB- versus the RABORAL V-RG-baited areas (74% vs. 30%; χ(2)=89.977, df=5, Praccoon rabies control.

Locally, voluminous andesitic volcanism both preceded and followed large eruptions of silicic ash-flow tuff from many calderas in the San Juan volcanic field. The most voluminous post-collapse lava suite of the central San Juan caldera cluster is the 28 Ma Huerto Andesite, a diverse assemblage erupted from at least 5-6 volcanic centres that were active around the southern margins of the La Garita caldera shortly after eruption of the Fish Canyon Tuff. These andesitic centres are inferred, in part, to represent eruptions of magma that ponded and differentiated within the crust below the La Garita caldera, thereby providing the thermal energy necessary for rejuvenation and remobilization of the Fish Canyon magma body. The multiple Huerto eruptive centres produced two magmatic series that differ in phenocryst mineralogy (hydrous vs anhydrous assemblages), whole-rock major and trace element chemistry and isotopic compositions. Hornblende-bearing lavas from three volcanic centres located close to the southeastern margin of the La Garita caldera (Eagle Mountain - Fourmile Creek, West Fork of the San Juan River, Table Mountain) define a high-K calc-alkaline series (57-65 wt % SiO2) that is oxidized, hydrous and sulphur rich. Trachyandesitic lavas from widely separated centres at Baldy Mountain-Red Lake (western margin), Sugarloaf Mountain (southern margin) and Ribbon Mesa (20 km east of the La Garita caldera) are mutually indistinguishable (55-61 wt % SiO2); they are characterized by higher and more variable concentrations of alkalis and many incompatible trace elements (e.g. Zr, Nb, heavy rare earth elements), and they contain anhydrous phenocryst assemblages (including olivine). These mildly alkaline magmas were less water rich and oxidized than the hornblende-bearing calc-alkaline suite. The same distinctions characterize the voluminous precaldera andesitic lavas of the Conejos Formation, indicating that these contrasting suites are long-term manifestations of San Juan

The Plio-Pleistocene Cerros del Rio volcanic field (CdRVF) in northern New Mexico is one of the largest ( greater than 700 square kilometers) predominantly basaltic and andesitic volcanic centers of the Rio Grande rift; it records the late-stage, volcano-tectonic evolution of the SW part of the Espanola Basin. The CdRVF reflects both regional proclivity toward Pliocene basaltic volcanism following protracted Neogene extensional tectonism and localized eruptive response to migration of basin- bounding faults. Approximately 180 cubic kilometers of flat lying to gently dipping basalt, andesite, and minor dacite lava flows and pyroclastic deposits of the CdRVF were erupted from more than 50 exposed vents between 2.8 Ma and 1.14 Ma. Subsurface interpretations of drill hole data and incised canyon exposures of the Rio Grande show that volcanic deposits are interbedded with Santa Fe Group sediments deposited in actively subsiding sub-basins of the southernmost Espanola Basin. Major basin-bounding faults in this area strike north to northwest, dip basinward, and have mostly dip-slip and subordinate strike-slip displacement. Although major basin-bounding faults were active prior to the onset of volcanism in the CdRVF, protracted extension resulted in a westward migration of graben-bounding faults. Phases of coeval volcanism at 2.8-2.6 Ma, 2.5-2.2 Ma, and 1.5-1.1 Ma, decreased in eruptive volume through time and are delineated on the basis of mapped stratigraphy, argon geochronology, paleomagnetic and aeromagnetic properties, and record a syntectonic westward migration of eruptive centers. The alignment of vent areas with mapped faults strongly suggests deep magmatic sources utilized local structures as conduits (i.e. faults and fractures developed in response to regional stress). However, some near-surface feeder dikes associated with eroded cinder cones record orientations that are not typically correlative with regional fault patterns suggesting near-surface conduits are

The evolution of polygenetic and monogenetic volcanic fields must reflect differences in magma processing during ascent. To assess their evolution we use thermobarometry and geochemistry to evaluate ascent paths for neighboring, nearly coeval volcanic fields in the Snake River Plain, in south-central Idaho, derived from (1) dominantly Holocene polygenetic evolved lavas from the Craters of the Moon lava field (COME) and (2) Quaternary non-evolved, olivine tholeiites (NEOT) from nearby monogenetic volcanic fields. These data show that NEOT have high magmatic temperatures (1205 + or - 27 degrees C) and a narrow temperature range (50 degrees C). Prolonged storage of COME magmas allows them to evolve to higher 87Sr/86Sr and SiO2, and lower MgO and 143Nd/144Nd. Most importantly, ascent paths control evolution: NEOT often erupt near the axis of the plain where high-flux (Yellowstone-related), pre-Holocene magmatic activity replaces granitic middle crust with basaltic sills, resulting in a net increase in NEOT magma buoyancy. COME flows erupt off-axis, where felsic crustal lithologies sometimes remain intact, providing a barrier to ascent and a source for crustal contamination. A three-stage ascent process explains the entire range of erupted compositions. Stage 1 (40-20 km): picrites are transported to the middle crust, undergoing partial crystallization of olivine + or - clinopyroxene. COME magmas pass through unarmored conduits and assimilate 1% or less of ancient gabbroic crust having high Sr and 87Sr/86Sr and low SiO2. Stage 2 (20-10 km): magmas are stored within the middle crust, and evolve to moderate MgO (10%). NEOT magmas, reaching 10% MgO, are positively buoyant and migrate through the middle crust. COME magmas remain negatively buoyant and so crystallize further and assimilate middle crust. Stage 3 (15-0 km): final ascent and eruption occurs when volatile contents, increased by differentiation, are sufficient (1-2 wt % H2O) to provide magma buoyancy through the

This poster will present an overview of successes and challenges observed by the authors during this major tsunami response event. The Tohoku, Japan tsunami was the most costly to affect California since the 1964 Alaskan earthquake and ensuing tsunami. The Tohoku tsunami caused at least $50 million in damage to public facilities in harbors and marinas along the coast of California, and resulted in one fatality. It was generated by a magnitude 9.0 earthquake which occurred at 9:46PM PST on Thursday, March 10, 2011 in the sea off northern Japan. The tsunami was recorded at tide gages monitored by the West Coast/Alaska Tsunami Warning Center (WCATWC), which projected tsunami surges would reach California in approximately 10 hours. At 12:51AM on March 11, 2011, based on forecasted tsunami amplitudes, the WCATWC placed the California coast north of Point Conception (Santa Barbara County) in a Tsunami Warning, and the coast south of Point Conception to the Mexican border in a Tsunami Advisory. The California Emergency Management Agency (CalEMA) activated two Regional Emergency Operation Centers (REOCs) and the State Operation Center (SOC). The California Geological Survey (CGS) deployed a field team which collected data before, during and after the event through an information clearinghouse. Conference calls were conducted hourly between the WCATWC and State Warning Center, as well as with emergency managers in the 20 coastal counties. Coordination focused on local response measures, public information messaging, assistance needs, evacuations, emergency shelters, damage, and recovery issues. In the early morning hours, some communities in low lying areas recommended evacuation for their citizens, and the fishing fleet at Crescent City evacuated to sea. The greatest damage occurred in the harbors of Crescent City and Santa Cruz. As with any emergency, there were lessons learned and important successes in managing this event. Forecasts by the WCATWC were highly accurate

A new undergraduate Physics Program with Space Science as the major concentration area has been initiated at Alabama A&M University (AAMU) in 2001. This program is funded by NASAÆs OSS and OEOP Offices under the NRA 00-OSS-02 Minority University Education and Research Partnership Initiative in Space Science-2000. The partner institutions are NASA Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) and Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC), Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) and The University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH). A primary objective of this Program is to train undergraduate and graduate minority (principally African-American) students in the extremely underrepresented areas of Space Science and to prepare them for eventual teaching and/or research careers in this increasingly important field. The best way to achieve this is to recruit students early from high school, and not wait until they have already selected their specialty in college. Also, a student with a BS degree in Physics with specialization in Space Science will have a decisive advantage in pursuing graduate studies in Space Science than the others. The BS degree requires a student to take 30 credit hours of Physics courses and an additional 18 hours in the chosen area of concentration. Several basic traditional courses in Lower Atmosphere, Aeronomy, the Solar System and Orbital Mechanics have been developed. Additional courses in Plasma Physics, Solar Physics and Astronomy will be taught by NASA-MSFC scientists and UAH faculty. A parallel objective is to expose the student to research experience early in their ca- reers. Each student is required to complete a one semester Undergraduate Research Opportunity Project (UROP) on a relevant topic from Space Science. The students will be guided in research by AAMU and UAH faculty and MSFC scientists. Each student will be required to write a term paper and make an oral presentation before a committee of advisors. This experience will enhance the Space

A NASA-funded Innovations in Climate Education (NICE) Program has been launched in Alabama to improve high school and middle school education in climate change science. The overarching goal is to generate a better informed public that understands the consequences of climate change and can contribute to sound decision making on related issues. Inquiry based NICE modules have been incorporated into the existing course of study for 9-12 grade biology, chemistry, and physics classes. In addition, new modules in three major content areas (earth and space science, physical science, and biological science) have been introduced to selected 6-8 grade science teachers in the summer of 2013. The NICE modules employ five E's of the learning cycle: Engage, Explore, Explain, Extend and Evaluate. Modules learning activities include field data collection, laboratory measurements, and data visualization and interpretation. Teachers are trained in the use of these modules for their classroom through unique partnership with Alabama Science in Motion (ASIM) and the Alabama Math Science Technology Initiative (AMSTI). Certified AMSTI teachers attend summer professional development workshops taught by ASIM and AMSTI specialists to learn to use NICE modules. During the school year, the specialists in turn deliver the needed equipment to conduct NICE classroom exercises and serve as an in-classroom resource for teachers and their students. Scientists are partnered with learning and teaching specialists and lead teachers to implement and test efficacy of instructional materials, models, and NASA data used in classroom. The assessment by professional evaluators after the development of the modules and the training of teachers indicates that the modules are complete, clear, and user-friendly. The overall teacher satisfaction from the teacher training was 4.88/5.00. After completing the module teacher training, the teachers reported a strong agreement that the content developed in the NICE

Determining the mechanisms involved in generating large-volume eruptions (>100 km3) of silicic magma with crystallinities approaching rheological lock-up ( 50 vol% crystals) remains a challenge for volcanologists. The Cenozoic Southern Rocky Mountain volcanic field, in Colorado and northernmost New Mexico, USA, produced ten such crystal-rich ignimbrites within 3 m.y. This work focuses on the 28.7 Ma Masonic Park Tuff, a dacitic ( 62-65 wt% SiO2) ignimbrite with an estimated erupted volume of 500 km3 and an average of 45 vol% crystals. Near-absence of quartz, titanite, and sanidine, pronounced An-rich spikes near the rims of plagioclase, and reverse zoning in clinopyroxene record the reheating (from 750 to >800 °C) of an upper crustal mush in response to hotter recharge from below. Zircon U-Pb ages suggest prolonged magmatic residence, while Yb/Dy vs temperature trends indicate co-crystallization with titanite which was later resorbed. High Sr, Ba, and Ti concentrations in plagioclase microlites and phenocryst rims require in-situ feldspar melting and concurrent, but limited, mass addition provided by the recharge, likely in the form of a melt-gas mixture. The larger Fish Canyon Tuff, which erupted from the same location 0.7 m.y. later, also underwent pre-eruptive reheating and partial melting of quartz, titanite, and feldspars in a long-lived upper crustal mush following the underplating of hotter magma. The Fish Canyon Tuff, however, records cooler pre-eruptive temperatures ( 710-760 °C) and a mineral assemblage indicative of higher magmatic water contents (abundant resorbed sanidine and quartz, euhedral amphibole and titanite, and absence of pyroxene). These similar pre-eruptive mush-reactivation histories, despite differing mineral assemblages and pre-eruptive temperatures, indicate that thermal rejuvenation is a key step in the eruption of crystal-rich silicic volcanics over a wide range of conditions.

The 2015 IECC provides cost-effective savings for residential buildings in Alabama. Moving to the 2015 IECC from the 2009 IECC base code is cost-effective for residential buildings in all climate zones in Alabama.

Alabama E3 is expanding to other manufacturing sectors and expanding its scope. Alabama E3 now includes a workforce training and education component and is also developing a new innovation engineering green module that focuses on improving sustainability

Subsurface fluid flow is strongly influenced by faults and fractures, yet the transmissivity of faults and fractures changes through time due to deformation and cement precipitation, making flow paths difficult to predict. Here we assess past fracture connectivity in an active hydrothermal system in the Basin and Range, Nevada, USA, using clumped isotope geochemistry and cold cathodoluminescence (CL) analysis of fracture filling cements from the Blue Mountain geothermal field. Calcite cements were sampled from drill cuttings and two cores at varying distances from faults. CL microscopy of some of the cements shows banding parallel to the fracture walls as well as brecciation, indicating that the cements record variations in the composition and source of fluids that moved through the fractures as they opened episodically. CL microscopy, δ13C and δ18O values were used to screen homogeneous samples for clumped isotope analysis. Clumped isotope thermometry of most samples indicates paleofluid temperatures of around 150°C, with several wells peaking at above 200°C. We suggest that the consistency of these temperatures is related to upwelling of fluids in the convective hydrothermal system, and interpret the similarity of the clumped isotope temperatures to modern geothermal fluid temperatures of ~160-180°C as evidence that average reservoir temperatures have changed little since precipitation of the calcite cements. In contrast, two samples, one of which was associated with fault gauge observed in drill logs, record significantly cooler temperatures of 19 and 73°C and anomalous δ13C and δ18Owater values, which point to fault-controlled pathways for downwelling meteoric fluid. Finally, we interpret correspondence of paleofluid temperatures and δ18Owater values constrained by clumped isotope thermometry of calcite from different wells to suggest past connectivity of fractures among wells within the geothermal field. Results show the ability of clumped isotope

High concentrations of DDT and metabolites (ΣDDT) have been detected in sediment and the demersal flatfish hornyhead turbot (Pleuronichtys verticalis) collected from Palos Verdes (PV), California, USA, a site contaminated with over 100 metric tons of DDT throughout 1960s-70s. This study was conducted to assess the transfer of ΣDDT from PV-sediment into polychaetes (Neanthes arenaceodentata) and hornyhead turbot, and to investigate if the responses in turbots from two different laboratory exposures mimic those in turbots caught in PV (PV-turbot). Turbot fed PV-sediment-contaminated polychaete for 7 days had liver concentrations of ΣDDT similar to PV-turbot. After 28 days, ΣDDT also accumulated in livers of turbot gavaged with a ΣDDT mixture. In vitro cell bioassays indicated significant increases of 17β-estradiol equivalents (EEQ) in turbot bile extracts as compared to the control in the 7-day study. These responses corresponded to those measured in PV-fish. Glucocorticoid receptor (GR), anti-androgen receptor (anti-AR), estrogen receptor (ER) or aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR) activities were also observed in extracts of PV-sediment, and PV-sediment-exposed worm. Anti-AR, AhR and GR activities were significantly higher in PV-sediment than reference sediment (San Diego, SD). Higher transcripts of hepatic VTG, ERα and ERβ were found in PV-turbot than SD-turbot, but were unaltered in fish exposed to sediment-contaminated worms for the 7-day study. In contrast, liver extracts from the 28-day treatment of ΣDDT showed lower EEQ but similar hepatic VTG and ERβ transcripts relative to those of PV-turbot. These data indicated that trophic transfer of sediment-associated DDT in 7-day exposures corresponded to field measurements of DDT residues and in vitro ER bioactivities, but failed to mimic in vivo biological effects observed in field fish. In contrast, treatment with ΣDDT alone for 28 days mimicked in vivo biological effects of DDTs in PV fish, but did not

The Alabama Department of Public Health (ADPH) is collaborating with the National Cancer Institute to develop detailed profiles of underserved Alabama communities most at risk for cancer. These profiles will be combined with geocoded data to create a pilot project, Cancer Prevention for Alabama's Underserved Populations: A Focused Approach. The project's objectives are to provide the ADPH's cancer prevention programs with a more accurate and cost-effective means of planning, implementing, and evaluating its prevention activities in an outcomes-oriented and population-appropriate manner. The project links geocoded data from the Alabama Statewide Cancer Registry with profiles generated by the National Cancer Institute's cancer profiling system, Consumer Health Profiles. These profiles have been successfully applied to market-focused cancer prevention messages across the United States. The ADPH and the National Cancer Institute will evaluate the efficacy of using geocoded data and lifestyle segmentation information in strategy development and program implementation. Alabama is the first state in the nation not only to link geocoded cancer registry data with lifestyle segmentation data but also to use the National Cancer Institute's profiles and methodology in combination with actual state data.

Background: This study evaluated wellness policies created by Alabama public school districts and progress made in the implementation of Alabama State Department of Education (ALSDE) school food and nutrition mandates. Methods: Wellness policies from Alabama public school districts were compared to minimum requirements under the Child Nutrition…

In 2013, Alabama adopted the Alabama Accountability Act, an education reform measure that includes two new school choice programs that extend a lifeline to Alabama students trapped in failing public schools. One program offers a tax credit to help offset the cost of tuition for families who move their children from public schools designated as…

...Notice is hereby given that the State of Alabama is revising its approved Public Water System Supervision Program. Alabama has adopted the following rules: Long Term 1 Enhanced Surface Water Treatment Rule, Long Term 2 Enhanced Surface Water Treatment Rule, and Stage 2 Disinfection/Disinfection Byproducts Rule. EPA has determined that Alabama's rules are no less stringent than the......

Full Text Available From mid June 2010 to early August 2010, the white sandy beaches along Alabama's Gulf coast were inundated with crude oil discharged from the Deepwater Horizon well. The long-term consequences of this environmental catastrophe are still unfolding. Although BP has attempted to clean up some of these beaches, there still exist many unanswered questions regarding the physical, chemical, and ecological state of the oil contaminated beach system. In this paper, we present our understanding of what is known and known to be unknown with regard to the current state of Alabama's beaches in the aftermath of the Deepwater Horizon disaster. Motivated by our observations of the evolving distribution of oil in Alabama's beaches and BP's clean-up activities, we offer our thoughts on the lessons learned from this oil spill disaster.

Full Text Available From mid June 2010 to early August 2010, the white sandy beaches along Alabama's Gulf coast were inundated with crude oil discharged from the Deepwater Horizon well. The long-term consequences of this environmental catastrophe are still unfolding. Although BP has attempted to clean up some of these beaches, there still exist many unanswered questions regarding the physical, chemical, and ecological state of the oil contaminated beach system. In this paper, we present our understanding of what is known and known to be unknown with regard to the current state of Alabama's beaches in the aftermath of the Deepwater Horizon disaster. Motivated by our observations of the evolving distribution of oil in Alabama's beaches and BP's clean-up activities, we offer our thoughts on the lessons learned from this oil spill disaster.

These remotely sensed, geographically referenced elevation measurements of Lidar-derived first surface (FS) topography were produced collaboratively by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), Florida Integrated Science Center (FISC), St. Petersburg, FL, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), Wallops Flight Facility, VA. This project provides highly detailed and accurate datasets of the Alabama coastline, acquired October 3-4, 2001. The datasets are made available for use as a management tool to research scientists and natural resource managers. An innovative scanning Lidar instrument originally developed by NASA, and known as the Airborne Topographic Mapper (ATM), was used during data acquisition. The ATM system is a scanning Lidar system that measures high-resolution topography of the land surface, and incorporates a green-wavelength laser operating at pulse rates of 2 to 10 kilohertz. Measurements from the laser ranging device are coupled with data acquired from inertial navigation system (INS) attitude sensors and differentially corrected global positioning system (GPS) receivers to measure topography of the surface at accuracies of +/-15 centimeters. The nominal ATM platform is a Twin Otter or P-3 Orion aircraft, but the instrument may be deployed on a range of light aircraft. Elevation measurements were collected over the survey area using the ATM system, and the resulting data were then processed using the Airborne Lidar Processing System (ALPS), a custom-built processing system developed in a NASA-USGS collaboration. ALPS supports the exploration and processing of Lidar data in an interactive or batch mode. Modules for pre-survey flight line definition, flight path plotting, Lidar raster and waveform investigation, and digital camera image playback have been developed. Processing algorithms have been developed to extract the range to the first and last significant return within each waveform. ALPS is routinely used to create maps that

The incidence of Sweet potato leaf curl virus (SPLCV), a Begomovirus, infection of sweetpotato Ipomoea batatas (L.) Lam. (Convolvulaceae) in South Carolina, USA has increased rapidly in recent years. This is likely due to the use of infected propagating materials and the increasing population of it...

Southern Company Services, under contract with the Department of Energy, along with Alabama Power, Alstom Grid (formerly AREVA T&D) and others moved the work product developed in the first phase of the Integrated Distribution Management System (IDMS) from “Proof of Concept” to true deployment through the activity described in this Final Report. This Project – Integrated Distribution Management Systems in Alabama – advanced earlier developed proof of concept activities into actual implementation and furthermore completed additional requirements to fully realize the benefits of an IDMS. These tasks include development and implementation of a Distribution System based Model that enables data access and enterprise application integration.

Numerous case studies and recent modeling studies have found that various metrics of updraft intensity appear to be reasonably well correlated to lightning production in thunderstorms, particularly severe thunderstorms. Indeed, the relationship between updraft and lightning flash rate is hypothesized to be the physical connection between a lightning "jump" signature and manifestations of severe weather such as tornadic activity. This study further examines this connection using a combination of dual Doppler wind retrievals made with the UAH ARMOR dual polarimetric and KHTX WSR 88D Doppler radar pair, together with northern Alabama Lightning Mapping Array (LMA) data. The dual Doppler data were used to construct three dimensional wind fields and the retrieved vertical velocity fields were subsequently compared to collocated total lightning flash rates observed by the LMA. Particular attention was paid to the timing of updraft pulses relative to changes in the flash rate, with the goal of assessing impacts on warning decision lead time. Results from the analysis of severe and non severe thunderstorms in Northern Alabama will be presented including the EF 4 tornado producing supercell on 6 February 2008.

Approximately 400 mi{sup 2} were surveyed on the Alabama outer continental shelf during October 1987 and March 1988 using an Edo-Western 4 kHz High Resolution Subbottom Profiler, an EG and G Model 260 Seafloor Mapping System and Starfix Navigation. The mapping is part of a larger project, The Mississippi-Alabama Marine Ecosystems Study, funded by the US Department of the Interior, Minerals Management Service, Gulf of Mexico Regional Office. Bathymetric maps and side-scan mosaics are being prepared from the raw data. Sea-floor features recognized on the side-scan and subbottom records include: (1) low topographic features - possibly bed-rock outcrops, and an enigmatic feature the authors are calling footprints, (2) moderate topographic features - low reefs or bed-rock outcrops, (3) major topographic features - pinnacles and large reefal masses, (4) pox - patches of closely spaced strong reflections with no relief, (5) ridges - closely spaced outcrops along clearly defined features such as shorelines and scarps (possibly truncated dunes or beach ridges), (6) patch reefs, closely spaced, which look like pox but have relief, (7) wave fields - closely spaced sand or gravel waves, and (8) wrecks - sunken rigs or platforms. Except for the wave fields, they believe that the remaining sea-floor features are relict and related to the post-Pleistocene rise of sea level.

The purpose of this study was to improve teachers' ability to effectively use aquaculture as a tool to teach math and science. The study population included Alabama science and career tech teachers that were certified to teach the Alabama aquaculture course of study. The teachers were electronically surveyed regarding their perceptions of the importance of the aquascience elective and aquaculture science course content standards, their knowledge of those topics and how they perceived the quality of available teaching materials. While all of the content standards were rated above average in importance, aquaculture career awareness and safety concerns were rated the highest by teachers. Teachers were most knowledgeable about career opportunities, categorization of aquaculture species, and the adaptations of aquatic organisms. The average materials ratings were below average for all content standards. The highest rated materials were for career opportunities, categorization of species and safety topics. Using Borich's (1980) model of mean weighted discrepancy scores, the control of diseases and pests in the aquatic environment and concepts associated with health management of aquacrops were identified as top priorities for in-service teacher training. Aquaculture industry infrastructure and the effects of the fishing industry were also identified as priority training topics. Teachers were self-divided into 3 categories those that taught science (SCI), career tech (CTE) and those that taught both (BOTH). They were further divided by their level of experience. A multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) revealed a significant effect between teacher types but there was no significant interaction effect between (a) teacher type and experience level or (b) the two levels of experience. A follow-up analysis of variance (ANOVA) indicated that the science teachers thought significantly less of the available materials than either the CTE or BOTH groups.

This course of study provides a framework for the content of a program in agribusiness education as part of the Alabama vocational education program. The course of study was designed to assist educators in developing and maintaining high quality vocational programs and to ensure uniformity of vocational programs. Following a description of the…

Discusses the need for teacher training in media use and describes a plan developed in Alabama consisting of a three-course sequence in technology for teacher education that can be incorporated into a master's degree program. Required primary computer skills and primary instructional design skills are listed. (Contains three references.) (LRW)

The Rural Studio, an outreach program of Auburn University, designs innovative houses for poor people living in Alabama's Hale County by using "junk" such as car windshields, carpet tiles, baled cardboard, and old license plates. The article theorizes this particular architecture in terms of Critical Regionalism, developed by…

Loblolly pine (Pinus taeda L.) decline has been prevalent on upland sites of central Alabama since the 1960's. The purpose of this study was to compare Forest Health Monitoring (FHM) standards and protocols with root health evaluations relative to crown, stem, and site measurements. Thirty-nine 1/6 acre plots were established on loblolly decline...

This paper reports soil losses and observed sediment deposition for 16 randomly selected forest road sections in the National Forests of Alabama. Visible sediment deposition zones were tracked along the stormwater flow path to the most remote location as a means of quantifying soil loss from road sections. Volumes of sediment in deposition zones were determined by...

The passage of a stringent immigration law in Alabama in 2011 makes relevant the juxtaposition of clergy and congregant attitudes and behaviors toward illegal immigrants as related to Biblical teachings that require charity to aliens. In order to examine the relationship between religious attitudes and illegal immigration, approximately 426…

Purpose: In the Alabama Black Belt, poverty is high, and the educational level is low. Studies have found increased tobacco use among individuals exposed to high levels of stress. Few studies have been conducted in this region to measure smoking status, its sociodemographic determinants, and how smoking status relates to stressful environmental…

This study investigates the relationship between tree growth and air mass type variability, using the spatial synoptic classification (SSC) in a bottomland slash pine forest in coastal Alabama (USA). The use of an air mass approach in dendroclimatology is somewhat unconventional and has not been fully explored. However, we believe that it may be useful because the air mass approach represents a holistic and comprehensive measure of surface conditions. Cores from 36 slash pines (Pinus elliotti) were extracted and ring widths were measured to the nearest 0.01 mm. The cores were then cross-dated and a standardized ring index series was established. Relationships were explored between the index series and several climate variables and teleconnections. The index series showed significant relationships with SSC air mass types and SSC air mass ratios, but insignificant results with teleconnections. Specifically the Dry Tropical air mass type was negatively correlated with tree growth while Moist Moderate was positively correlated. Concomitantly, Dry Tropical : Moist Moderate, Dry Tropical : Moist Tropical, and Dry Moderate : Moist Moderate air mass ratios also showed negative correlations. Positive Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO) sea surface temperatures were also associated with significant moisture and air mass variability in the region, although the PDO did not have a significant relationship with tree growth. The significance between SSC air mass variability and tree growth in the humid subtropical climate of coastal Alabama has favorable implications for dendroclimatological research in drier environments where trees are more sensitive to climatic variables.

The Gulf Sturgeon Recovery Plan (USFWS, GSMFC and NMFS 1995) stressed the need to provide maximum protection to Gulf sturgeon spawning habitat. The approach employed by various Gulf sturgeon researchers, including ourselves, to document spawning has been to identify potential spawning habitat on the basis of physical characteristics and/or tracking data, collect eggs, and then raise the eggs in the laboratory until the point where the larval fish can be identified (e.g., Marchant and Shutters 1996, Sulak and Clugston 1998, 1999). However, collecting eggs in any appreciable number is usually difficult, and these eggs may not always be viable upon return to the laboratory. Molecular methods provide an alternative means of identifying the species represented by an egg. Notable examples related to sturgeon conservation include cases where molecular markers were used to verify the sources of commercially available caviar (DeSalle and Birstein 1996, Birstein et al. 1999).

Full Text Available The monitoring of land/use land cover changes along the northern part of Madison County Alabama are essential for the developers, planners, policy makers and management of government, public and private organizations. Remote sensing was used to analyze and study land-use/land-cover use changes impact on the environment of Madison County Alabama. This study area was selected because it is one of the fastest growing areas in the state of Alabama. The study used data sets obtained from several sources. Remote sensing images, land-use/land-cover use maps, global positioning data. The remote sensing images were LANDSAT Thematic Mapper (TM images acquired during April 1987 and May 1997. The data was processed and analyzed using MAP-X/RS and ERDAS. Six classes or categories of land-use/land-cover were analyzed to determine changes and the relationship to suburban sprawl. Each method used was assessed and checked in field. Six land use/land cover classes are produced. The overall accuracy for the 1987 image is (78.92% and for the 1997 image is (85.44% Analysis of the images for 1987 and 1997 showed a (26 and 15% increase in the urbanization and industrial development respectively and a decrease in all other classes. The most significant decrease (25% was in the pastures class, however, less significant changes were observed for the water resources and forest. The results from this study could be beneficial to state/county planners, researchers and policy makers.

The disastrous tornado outbreak in Alabama on April 27, 2011 greatly impacted the economy of the state. On record, the tornado outbreak was the second deadliest tornado outbreak in U.S. When considering the agricultural and value-added activities such as food and timber processing, farm inputs, manufacturing, transportation, and retail sales, the dollar value of Alabama agribusiness annually exceeds $40 billion (NASS, 2011). This research aims to examine how the timber and agriculture damage affected the state economy of Alabama and will be used to aid in long-term economic recovery. ASTER imagery was used along with ground-truthed NASS (National Agriculture Statistics Service) crop location records to verify the economic impact tornadoes had on the agricultural economy of the state. This swath damage can be calculated by correlating tornado path with NASS statistics on crop yield, precisely showing the fields affected and dollars lost to this disaster. Not only can this be executed manually using ENVI and ArcGIS, but also through the use of Python, a programming language that has the ability to automate the process, creating a product for initial damage assessment.

Topobathymetric Digital Elevation Models (DEMs) are a merged rendering of both topography (land elevation) and bathymetry (water depth) that provides a seamless elevation product useful for inundation mapping, as well as for other earth science applications, such as the development of sediment-transport, sea-level rise, and storm-surge models. This 1/9-arc-second (approximately 3 meters) resolution model of Mobile Bay, Alabama was developed using multiple topographic and bathymetric datasets, collected on different dates. The topographic data were obtained primarily from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) National Elevation Dataset (NED) (http://ned.usgs.gov/) at 1/9-arc-second resolution; USGS Experimental Advanced Airborne Research Lidar (EAARL) data (2 meters) (http://pubs.usgs.gov/ds/400/); and topographic lidar data (2 meters) and Compact Hydrographic Airborne Rapid Total Survey (CHARTS) lidar data (2 meters) from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) (http://www.csc.noaa.gov/digitalcoast/data/coastallidar/). Bathymetry was derived from digital soundings obtained from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) National Geophysical Data Center (NGDC) (http://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/mgg/geodas/geodas.html) and from water-penetrating lidar sources, such as EAARL and CHARTS. Mobile Bay is ecologically important as it is the fourth largest estuary in the United States. The Mobile and Tensaw Rivers drain into the bay at the northern end with the bay emptying into the Gulf of Mexico at the southern end. Dauphin Island (a barrier island) and the Fort Morgan Peninsula form the mouth of Mobile Bay. Mobile Bay is 31 miles (50 kilometers) long by a maximum width of 24 miles (39 kilometers) with a total area of 413 square miles (1,070 square kilometers). The vertical datum of the Mobile Bay topobathymetric model is the North American Vertical Datum of 1988 (NAVD 88). All the topographic datasets were originally referenced to NAVD 88 and no transformations

The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Alabama Department of Transportation, made observations of clear-water contraction scour at 25 bridge sites in the Black Prairie Belt of the Coastal Plain of Alabama. These bridge sites consisted of 54 hydraulic structures, of which 37 have measurable scour holes. Observed scour depths ranged from 1.4 to 10.4 feet. Theoretical clear-water contraction-scour depths were computed for each bridge and compared with observed scour. This comparison showed that theoretical scour depths, in general, exceeded the observed scour depths by about 475 percent. Variables determined to be important in developing scour in laboratory studies along with several other hydraulic variables were investigated to understand their influence within the Alabamafield data. The strongest explanatory variables for clear-water contraction scour were channel-contraction ratio and velocity index. Envelope curves were developed relating both of these explanatory variables to observed scour. These envelope curves provide useful tools for assessing reasonable ranges of scour depth in the Black Prairie Belt of Alabama.

Rural household adoption of the PC and Internet for accessing medical and healthcare information was investigated using survey data collected from 305 households randomly selected from non-metropolitan, rural counties across Alabama. The diffusion-adoption model for new technologies was employed to create five adoption stages relevant to this technology and its applications to communication of information in the health field. Descriptive household characteristics of age, education, income, and children revealed differences between adoption stages, with age and education having major impacts. Use of traditional sources of health information and the Internet were compared in relation to age and availability of medical services. Older, less educated households lagged behind in use of the Internet for health information. Medical professionals, doctors and pharmacists, were the most utilized information source by rural households; but those households connected to the Internet used on-line sources, even e-mail to communicate with their doctors.

Preliminary breakdown pulses in electric field change records are thought to be produced by sudden extensions of the lightning channel. We present detailed time domain electrodynamic simulations of extension of an existing lightning leader channel due to heating processes and compare the results to observations of a natural cloud-to-ground lightning discharge made with the Huntsville Alabama Marx Meter Array (HAMMA) at a variety of locations near the discharge. Varying the geometry and parameters of the simulations in an attempt to reproduce the data allows us to constrain the directionality and physical properties of the channel. We simulate a variety of leader step phenomena, including uniform heating over the entire step, connection with a space leader, and dart leader propagation onto a preconditioned channel. Results support the notion of impulsive channel extension as the mechanism for preliminary breakdown and shed light on the mechanics of the process.

A field study using 621 "lost" letters was conducted in the city of Mobile and in small towns in mostly rural Baldwin County, Alabama. Milgram's lost letter technique was validated against the actual votes cast during the November 7, 2000 General Election. The technique was successful as an unobtrusive measure useful for predicting patterns of voting behavior. Rates of return of lost letters "in favor of and opposed to legalizing interracial marriage" agreed with the actual election returns (chi-square "goodness of fit"). Community size seemed associated with return of lost letters.

Calls for changing educational leadership preparation have led many state policy makers to initiate program redesign efforts; the governor of Alabama constituted a working group to examine the situation and develop recommendations. This article details the school leadership preparation program redesign process in Alabama from the perspective of…

The Alabama Department of Education (ALSDE) introduced the revised Comprehensive Counseling and Guidance State Model for Alabama Public Schools (State Plan) in 2003. Based on sweeping national changes in school counseling and the first publication of the ASCA National Model[R] (American School Counselor Association, 2003, 2005), the ALSDE was…

WASHINGTON -- EPA and the U.S. Department of Justice today lodged in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Alabama a proposed modification of a prior 2006 consent decree with Alabama Power Company that will secure further reductions of ha

The purpose of this research was to explore the relationship between two variables, "servant leadership" and "job satisfaction," among management, executive staff, and faculty at Alabama's five regional universities: Jacksonville State University, Troy University, the University of Montevallo, the University of North Alabama,…

The purpose of this research was to explore the relationship between two variables, "servant leadership" and "job satisfaction," among management, executive staff, and faculty at Alabama's five regional universities: Jacksonville State University, Troy University, the University of Montevallo, the University of North Alabama, and the University of…

The purpose of this study was to compare Alabama's rural school districts with its city, suburban, and town districts. Descriptive statistics were used for this population study, with effect sizes calculated using Cohen's d. Findings indicated Alabama's rural school districts serve slightly less affluent student populations, with a lower…

The objective of this study was to examine state radiation emergency response and to locate any areas of emergency planning in need of improvement. This report briefly presents a summary of laws and defining documents governing radiation emergency response, describes the existing and projected need for such response, and presents the authors' analyses of the evolution of state response plans and their application to radiation incidents. Three states' programs are discussed in detail: Illinois, Alabama, and Texas. These states were selected because they have quite different emergency-response programs. Therefore, these state programs provide a wide variety of approaches to state radiation emergency response.

The Big Pine volcanic field is one of several Quaternary volcanic fields that poses a potential volcanic hazard along the tectonically active Owens Valley of east-central California, and whose lavas are interbedded with deposits from Pleistocene glaciations in the Sierra Nevada Range. Previous geochronology indicates an ∼1.2 Ma history of volcanism, but the eruption ages and distribution of volcanic products associated with the most-recent eruptions have been poorly resolved. To delimit the timing and products of the youngest volcanism, we combine field mapping and cosmogenic 36Cl dating of basaltic lava flows in the area where lavas with youthful morphology and well-preserved flow structures are concentrated. Field mapping and petrology reveal approximately 15 vents and 6 principal flow units with variable geochemical composition and mineralogy. Cosmogenic 36Cl exposure ages for lava flow units from the top, middle, and bottom of the volcanic stratigraphy indicate eruptions at ∼17, 27, and 40 ka, revealing several different and previously unrecognized episodes of late Pleistocene volcanism. Olivine to plagioclase-pyroxene phyric basalt erupted from several vents during the most recent episode of volcanism at ∼17 ka, and produced a lava flow field covering ∼35 km2. The late Pleistocene 36Cl exposure ages indicate that moraine and pluvial shoreline deposits that overlie or modify the youngest Big Pine lavas reflect Tioga stage glaciation in the Sierra Nevada and the shore of paleo-Owens Lake during the last glacial cycle.

Greater Aneth oil field, Utah’s largest oil producer, was discovered in 1956 and has produced over 483 million barrels of oil. Located in the Paradox Basin of southeastern Utah, Greater Aneth is a stratigraphic trap producing from the Pennsylvanian (Desmoinesian) Paradox Formation. Because Greater Aneth is a mature, major oil field in the western U.S., and has a large carbonate reservoir, it was selected to demonstrate combined enhanced oil recovery and carbon dioxide storage. The Aneth Unit in the northwestern part of the field has produced over 160 million barrels of the estimated 386 million barrels of original oil in place—a 42% recovery rate. The large amount of remaining oil made the Aneth Unit ideal to enhance oil recovery by carbon dioxide flooding and demonstrate carbon dioxide storage capacity.

Purpose: The purposes of this study were to: (a) examine the impact of the Silverman and Solmon article (1998) on how researchers handle the unit of analysis issue in their field-based intervention research in physical education in the United States and summarize statistical approaches that have been used to analyze the data, and (b) provide…

To encourage Hispanic participation and enrolment in the geosciences and ultimately enhance diversity within the discipline, we recruited ten middle and high school science teachers serving large Hispanic populations (60-97%) for a paid three-week field experience supported by an NSF Opportunities for Enhancing Diversity in the Geosciences grant. In 2006, the field experiences focused on volcanic events and the water problems of the Central part of Mexico. In 2008, the field experiences focused on karstic and hydrogeological conditions of the Yucatan Peninsula. In addition to the geological aspects of the fieldwork experience, the trip to Mexico exposed the teachers to a social environment outside of their community where they interacted with a diverse group of scientists from the Universidad National Autonoma de Mexico (UNAM), Centro de Investigacion Cientifica de Yucatan (CICY) and Centro Nacional de Desastres (CENAPRED). A key part of this project was the encounter between American and Mexican teachers that included a day of presentations, panel discussion and some class-room activities. Direct interaction between the cooperating teachers and the American and Mexican geoscientists provided actual scientific research experiences to educate and to help dispel misconceptions the teachers themselves may have had about who geoscientists really are and what they do. Teachers of the 2006 group produced educational materials from their field experiences and presented these materials at professional conferences. We measured the efficacy of these activities quantitatively via pre- and post-tests assessing confidence levels, preconceptions and biases, NIU staff observations of participants in their home institutions, and evaluations of participants' field books and pedagogical materials. We present these data here and identify specific activities that are both effective and efficient in changing teacher behaviours and attitudes enabling them to better connect with their

Mechanisms and timescales responsible for pockmark formation and maintenance remain uncertain, especially in areas lacking extensive thermogenic fluid deposits (e.g., previously glaciated estuaries). This study characterizes seafloor activity in the Belfast Bay, Maine nearshore pockmark field using (1) three swath bathymetry datasets collected between 1999 and 2008, complemented by analyses of shallow box-core samples for radionuclide activity and undrained shear strength, and (2) historical bathymetric data (report and smooth sheets from 1872, 1947, 1948). In addition, because repeat swath bathymetry surveys are an emerging data source, we present a selected literature review of recent studies using such datasets for seafloor change analysis. This study is the first to apply the method to a pockmark field, and characterizes macro-scale (>5 m) evolution of tens of square kilometers of highly irregular seafloor. Presence/absence analysis yielded no change in pockmark frequency or distribution over a 9-year period (1999–2008). In that time pockmarks did not detectably enlarge, truncate, elongate, or combine. Historical data indicate that pockmark chains already existed in the 19th century. Despite the lack of macroscopic changes in the field, near-bed undrained shear-strength values of less than 7 kPa and scattered downcore 137Cs signatures indicate a highly disturbed setting. Integrating these findings with independent geophysical and geochemical observations made in the pockmark field, it can be concluded that (1) large-scale sediment resuspension and dispersion related to pockmark formation and failure do not occur frequently within this field, and (2) pockmarks can persevere in a dynamic estuarine setting that exhibits minimal modern fluid venting. Although pockmarks are conventionally thought to be long-lived features maintained by a combination of fluid venting and minimal sediment accumulation, this suggests that other mechanisms may be equally active in

To evaluate the impact of Hurricane Ivan, which made landfall east of Mobile, Alabama, on September 16, 2004, on pharmacies in the affected areas. Retrospective cross-sectional analysis. Baldwin County, Alabama. Pharmacy community rapid-needs-assessment survey. 41 hospital and community (chain and independent) pharmacies. Posthurricane pharmacy hours of operations, prescription volumes, infrastructure damage, and prehurricane disaster planning. During the week of the hurricane, both chain and independent community pharmacies within the evacuation zone worked significantly fewer hours (46% and 49%, respectively) and dispensed significantly fewer prescriptions (37% and 52%) compared with the same week of the prior year. Overall, 40% of pharmacies depleted their supplies of certain medications (e.g., anxiolytics, antihypertensives). A total of 60% of the chain and independent pharmacies outside the evacuation zone closed because of loss of electricity, but pharmacies with a generator were significantly less likely to report having turned away patients. The proportion of pharmacies that had a disaster plan but turned away patients or rationed or ran out of medications was similar to that of pharmacies without a disaster plan. Although Hurricane Ivan primarily affected the operation of pharmacies within the evacuation zone, pharmacies in the surrounding area were also affected because of loss of power. Emergency management officials should evaluate the efficacy of specific guidelines outlined in disaster plans and identify ways to deliver essential medications to people in disaster-affected areas.

The Southeastern US has the largest potential for growth in the solar industry. However, currently they languish behind the rest of the US. There are several bright spots including the large number of utility scale installations in North Carolina and the recent successes in South Carolina under Act 236. In order to better understand the impacts of state legislation on the growth of the solar industry in the SE US, the Savannah River National Laboratory has undertaken a study to look at the growth in each state in order to develop recommendations to help reduce the cost of solar and to spur the industry. This is the second report in the series. The first focused on developing cost metrics for South Carolina under Act 236. This report focuses on Alabama, the 49th ranked state for solar business, which has very similar population and median income to South Carolina. For this survey, the ten known in-state installers were contacted. Responses were received from seven, representing 70% of the installers, a majority of which provide both residential and commercial installations. Interestingly, none of the respondents serve the utility scale sector. Overall, costs for Alabama are on track with the rest of the country with a reported average cost of $3.29/W-DC for residential systems and $2.44/W-DC for commercial systems. 60% of this cost is attributed to hardware only. Of the remaining costs, installation contributed to the largest percentage of soft costs followed by overhead, marketing and sales, and permitting, respectively. This also closely mirrors results seen in South Carolina. Job growth in the industry is expected to proceed well. An expected 34-42 additional full time equivalent jobs were expected to be added in Alabama within the six month window following the survey period. During the three years following the survey, this number was expected to double with 89-97 additional jobs being added to the market. In both cases, a vast majority of these jobs were for

In 2010 Congress directed NASA to initiate research towards the development of Carbon Monitoring Systems (CMS). In response, our team has worked to develop a robust, replicable framework to quantify and map aboveground forest biomass at high spatial resolutions. Crucial to this framework has been the collection of field-based estimates of aboveground tree biomass, combined with remotely detected canopy and structural attributes, for calibration and validation. Here we evaluate the field- based calibration and validation strategies within this carbon monitoring framework and discuss the implications on local to national monitoring systems. Through project development, the domain of this research has expanded from two counties in MD (2,181 km2), to the entire state of MD (32,133 km2), and most recently the tri-state region of MD, PA, and DE (157,868 km2) and covers forests in four major USDA ecological providences. While there are approximately 1000 Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) plots distributed across the state of MD, 60% fell in areas considered non-forest or had conditions that precluded them from being measured in the last forest inventory. Across the two pilot counties, where population and landuse competition is high, that proportion rose to 70% Thus, during the initial phases of this project 850 independent field plots were established for model calibration following a random stratified design to insure the adequate representation of height and vegetation classes found across the state, while FIA data were used as an independent data source for validation. As the project expanded to cover the larger spatial tri-state domain, the strategy was flipped to base calibration on more than 3,300 measured FIA plots, as they provide a standardized, consistent and available data source across the nation. An additional 350 stratified random plots were deployed in the Northern Mixed forests of PA and the Coastal Plains forests of DE for validation.

Large-scale CO2 dioxide injection for purposes of enhanced oil recovery (EOR) has been operational at Rangely, Colorado since 1986. The Rangely field serves as an onshore prototype for CO2 sequestration in depleted fields by production of a valuable commodity which partially offsets infrastructure costs. The injection is at pressures considerably above hydrostatic pressure, enhancing the possibility for migration of buoyant gases toward the surface. Methane and CO2 were measured in shallow soil gas, deep soil gas, and as fluxes into the atmosphere in both winter and summer seasons. There were large seasonal variations in surface biological noise. The direct measurement of CH4 flux to the atmosphere gave an estimate of 400 metric tonnes per year over the 78 km2 area, and carbon dioxide flux was between 170 and 3800 metric tonnes per year. Both stable carbon isotopes and carbon-14 were used in constructing these estimates. Computer modeling of the unsaturated zone migration, and of methanotrophic oxidation rates suggests a large portion of the CH4 is oxidized in the summer, and at a much lower rate in the winter. However, deep-sourced CH4 makes a larger contribution to the atmosphere than CO2, in terms of GWP. The 23+ million tonnes of carbon dioxide that have been injected at Rangely are largely stored as dissolved CO2 and a lesser amount as bicarbonate. Scaling problems, as a result of acid gas dissolution of carbonate cement, and subsequent precipitation of CaSO4 will be an increasing problem as the system matures. Evidence for mineral sequestration was not found in the scales. Ultimate injector and field capacities will be determined by mineral precipitation in the formation as it affects porosity and permeability.

A detailed investigation is reported of cuttings recovered from three wells in the Salton Sea geothermal field located at the southeast end of the Salton Sea, California. The wells, Magmamax No. 2, Magmamax No. 3, and Woolsey No. 1 penetrate 1340 m, 1200 m, and 730 m, respectively, of altered sandstones, siltstones, and shales of the Colorado River delta. The wells are located at the crest of a thermal anomaly, reach a maximum of 320/sup 0/C at 1070 m, and produce a brine containing approximately 250,000 mg/1 of dissolved solids.

Prairie dogs (Cynomys spp.) suffer high rates of mortality from plague. An oral sylvatic plague vaccine using the raccoon poxvirus vector (designated RCN-F1/V307) has been developed for prairie dogs. This vaccine is incorporated into palatable bait along with rhodamine B as a biomarker. We conducted trials in August and September 2012 to demonstrate uptake and apparent safety of the RCN-F1/V307 vaccine in two prairie dog species under field conditions. Free-ranging prairie dogs and other associated small rodents readily consumed vaccine-laden baits during field trials with no apparent adverse effects; most sampled prairie dogs (90%) and associated small rodents (78%) had consumed baits. Visual counts of prairie dogs and their burrows revealed no evidence of prairie dog decline after vaccine exposure. No vaccine-related morbidity, mortality, or gross or microscopic lesions were observed. Poxviruses were not isolated from any animal sampled prior to bait distribution or on sites that received placebo baits. We isolated RCN-F1/V307 from 17 prairie dogs and two deer mice (Peromyscus maniculatus) captured on sites where vaccine-laden baits were distributed. Based on these findings, studies examining the utility and effectiveness of oral vaccination to prevent plague-induced mortality in prairie dogs and associated species are underway.

Full Text Available The grabens of the Canyonlands National Park are a young and active system of sub-parallel, arcuate grabens, whose evolution is the result of salt movement in the subsurface and a slight regional tilt of the faulted strata. We present results of ground penetrating radar surveys in combination with field observations and analysis of high resolution airborne imagery. GPR data show intense faulting of the Quaternary sediments at the flat graben floors, implying a more complex fault structure than visible at the surface. Direct measurements of heave and throw at several locations to infer fault dips at depth, combined with observations of primary joint surfaces in the upper 100 m suggest a model of the highly dilatant fault geometry in profile. Sinkholes observed in the field as well as in airborne imagery give insights in local massive dilatancy and show where water and sediments are transported underground. Based on correlations of paleosols observed in outcrops and GPR profiles, we argue that the grabens in Canyonlands National Park are either older than previously assumed, or that sedimentation rates were much higher in the Pleistocene.

The grabens of the Canyonlands National Park are a young and active system of sub-parallel, arcuate grabens, whose evolution is the result of salt movement in the subsurface and a slight regional tilt of the faulted strata. We present results of ground penetrating radar surveys in combination with field observations and analysis of high resolution airborne imagery. GPR data show intense faulting of the Quaternary sediments at the flat graben floors, implying a more complex fault structure than visible at the surface. Direct measurements of heave and throw at several locations to infer fault dips at depth, combined with observations of primary joint surfaces in the upper 100 m suggest a model of the highly dilatant fault geometry in profile. Sinkholes observed in the field as well as in airborne imagery give insights in local massive dilatancy and show where water and sediments are transported underground. Based on correlations of paleosols observed in outcrops and GPR profiles, we argue that the grabens in Canyonlands National Park are either older than previously assumed, or that sedimentation rates were much higher in the Pleistocene.

A detailed study of wireline logs from 11 wells in the Salton Sea and Westmorland geothermal systems was undertaken in order to determine the effects of hydrothermal alteration on the response of electrical and gamma-gamma density well logs. For the Salton Sea geothermal field, definite correspondence between log responses and hydrothermal mineralogy is evident, which in turn is related to the physical properties of the rocks. Three hydrothermal and one unaltered zone can be identified from log data on shales. These are: (1) the unaltered montmorillonite zone (<100/sup 0/ to 190/sup 0/C); (2) the illite zone (100/sup 0/ to 190/sup 0/C to 230/sup 0/ to 250/sup 0/C); (3) the chlorite zone (230/sup 0/ to 250/sup 0/C to 290/sup 0/ to 300/sup 0/C); and (4) the feldspar zone (>290/sup 0/ to 300/sup 0/C). The characteristic responses on well logs by which these zones are identified result primarily from changes in clay mineralogy of the shales and increases in density with progressive hydrothermal metamorphism. In the Westmorland geothermal field, differentiating mineral zones from log responses was only partially successful. However, analyses of both well log and petrologic data for wells Landers 1 and Kalin Farms 1 suggest that the former is heating up and the latter is cooling.

Prairie dogs (Cynomys spp.) suffer high rates of mortality from plague. An oral sylvatic plague vaccine using the raccoon poxvirus vector (designated RCN-F1/V307) has been developed for prairie dogs. This vaccine is incorporated into palatable bait along with rhodamine B as a biomarker. We conducted trials in August and September 2012 to demonstrate uptake and apparent safety of the RCN-F1/V307 vaccine in two prairie dog species under field conditions. Free-ranging prairie dogs and other associated small rodents readily consumed vaccine-laden baits during field trials with no apparent adverse effects; most sampled prairie dogs (90%) and associated small rodents (78%) had consumed baits. Visual counts of prairie dogs and their burrows revealed no evidence of prairie dog decline after vaccine exposure. No vaccine-related morbidity, mortality, or gross or microscopic lesions were observed. Poxviruses were not isolated from any animal sampled prior to bait distribution or on sites that received placebo baits. We isolated RCN-F1/V307 from 17 prairie dogs and two deer mice (Peromyscus maniculatus) captured on sites where vaccine-laden baits were distributed. Based on these findings, studies examining the utility and effectiveness of oral vaccination to prevent plague-induced mortality in prairie dogs and associated species are underway.

This study of 118 discrete volcanic flows from the Columbia River Basalt Group is aimed to determine their distribution of geomagnetic field directions and virtual geomagnetic poles (VGPs) and to compare the inherent secular variation parameters with those from other studies. The magnetic signature of these rocks is uniformly carried by primary titanomagnetite, indicating that magnetic changes are due to variations in the magnetic field. Although most flows are flat lying, those that are tilted pass the Tauxe and Watson tilt test. Sequential flows with statistically similar site means were grouped, and directions that were considered outliers were evaluated and removed using the Vandamme cut-off method. Three normal-polarity (N-polarity) and three reversed-polarity (R-polarity) intervals are revealed by the stratigraphically ordered flows and have mean directions of N polarity (dec/inc = 6.6°/+61.2°, k = 29.3, α95 = 4.2°), and R polarity (dec/inc = 178.2°/-59.2°, k = 16, α95 = 5.5°). Regression analysis indicates that the secular variation analysis has not been affected by regional rotation, and that apparent polar wander is negligible. The VGP distribution is almost perfectly circular and supports the preference of VGP positions for the dispersion analysis. Dispersion parameters with corrections for within-site scatter (Sb) show a range of 14.3°-25.5°, including error limits, and were consistently higher for R-polarity results than for those of N polarity. Published dispersion parameters for extrusives <5 Ma show Sb values slightly lower than ours, yielding values of 16°-19°, although the difference is not statistically significant. In contrast, published dispersion parameters from high quality data from the Cretaceous Normal Superchron are lower than those for the Neogene, which suggests that the noisiness of the magnetic field correlates with the frequency of reversals. Our new results allow us to extend the Plio-Pleistocene palaeosecular variation

Plants emitted photons of red and far-red light, called chlorophyll fluorescence, after sunlight absorption for photosynthesis. This solar-induced fluorescence (SIF) is generated simultaneously while plants actively photosynthesize. The link between photosynthesis and SIF resulting from the competition for the same excitation energy has long been investigated and applied for inferring the rate of photosynthesis. Recent development of continuous SIF observational technology is furthering the inferring potential as well as our understandings of fluctuations of SIF and photosynthesis with changes in environmental conditions. To better understand this photosynthesis-SIF link at multiple time scales and their relationships with environmental drivers, we deployed two newly developed tower-based SIF systems (FluoSpec) in a corn (Zea mays L., C4 plant) field and a soybean (Glycine max L., C3 plant) field at University of Illinois Energy Farm and conducted continuous near-surface SIF measurements at canopy scale from mid-growing season of 2016. Eddy covariance flux towers were installed in parallel at both sites for canopy-scale gas exchange measurements. Relationship between SIF and flux tower photosynthesis will be analyzed to derive the empirical models for photosynthesis retrieval from SIF signals. Preliminary results indicate that canopy SIF can reflect diurnal and seasonal dynamics of photosynthesis. Mechanistic analysis on SIF fluctuations and responses to environmental variations will be conducted as well for a closer look at mechanism of photosynthetic responses. Corn and soybean SIF and photosynthesis-SIF relationship will be compared to investigate the difference between C4 and C3 plants.

Aquifer thermal energy storage (ATES) is predicted to be the most cost-effective technology for seasonal storage of low-grade thermal energy. Approximately 60% of the US is underlain with aquifers potentially suitable for underground energy storage. Under sponsorship of the US Department of Energy (DOE), Pacific Northwest Laboratory (PNL), which is operated by Battelle Memorial Institute, has managed numerical modeling, laboratory studies, evaluation of environmental and institutional issues, and field testing of ATES at several sites. This report describes the monitoring and evaluation (under the auspices of PNL) of an ATES chill system constructed and operated by the University of Alabama at Tuscaloosa, Alabama. The system is the first such system to be monitored in a comprehensive manner. Results support both the promise and problems likely to be encountered in such systems. Chill ATES has the potential to substantially reduce energy consumption and, especially, summer peak cooling electrical demand. However, the geohydrologic environment that the system will use must be a major element in system design and operation. 9 refs., 25 figs., 10 tabs.

A tracer-elution experiment was conducted in a 9-m-thick alluvial sand aquifer at the Rocky Mountain Arsenal, Denver, Colorado, within an extensive 1,1,1-trichloroethene and trichloroethene plume. The forced-gradient flow field was controlled by an injection well and an extraction well separated by 8.4 m and aligned in the direction of the natural-gradient flow. Upon extraction, the contaminant-laden water was treated by air stripping and reinjected into the injection well. Iodide tracer was added to the injection flow during the initial 27.5 h of the experiment. Tracer transport and organic contaminant elution were monitored by four 0.15-m-screened drive points and a fully penetrating monitoring well. Relative permeabilities, dispersivities and retardation factors were estimated from tracer breakthrough and contaminant elution curves by the moment method and by curve-fitting with an advection-dispersion model. Tracer transport through the four strata sampled by the drive points indicated a permeability variation of three orders of magnitude. Contaminant elution was not observed in the lowest-permeability stratum monitored during the experiment. In all monitored strata, contaminant elution was controlled primarily by permeability effects on water flow and exhibited minimal retardation or desorption effects. The fully penetrating monitoring well exhibited a tracer response primarily from the more permeable strata with the addition of tracer from the less permeable strata producing an increased breakthrough spreading. This increased spreading or dispersion was reflected in a higher longitudinal dispersivity estimate (1.2 m assuming a homogeneous aquifer) than dispersivity estimates from the drive-point sampler tracer curves (ranging from 5 to 21 cm). Contaminant elution curves from the fully penetrating monitoring well exhibited an initial response primarily from the more permeable strata (rapid elution of contaminants) and provided no insight into the elution

Collocated cokriging (CCK) and neural-network multi-attribute transform (NN-MAT) are widely used in the prediction of reservoir properties because they can integrate sparsely-distributed, high-resolution well-log data and densely-sampled, low-resolution seismic data. CCK is a linear-weighted averaging method based on spatial covariance model. NN-MAT, based on a nonlinear relationship between seismic attributes and log values, treats data as spatially independent observations. In this study, we analyzed 3-D seismic and well-log data from the Second Wall Creek Sand of the Teapot Dome field, Wyoming, USA to investigate: (1) how CCK and NN-MAT perform in the prediction of porosity and (2) how the number of wells affects the results. Among a total of 64 wells, 25 wells were selected for CCK and NN-MAT and 39 wells were withheld for validation. We examined four cases: 25, 20, 15, and 10 wells. CCK overpredicted the porosity in the validation wells for all cases likely due to the strong influence of high values, but failed to predict very large porosities. Overprediction of CCK porosity becomes more pronounced with decreasing number of wells. NN-MAT largely underpredicted the porosity for all cases probably due to the band-limited nature of seismic data. The performance of CCK appears to be not affected significantly by the number of wells. Overall, NN-MAT performed better than CCK although its performance decreases continuously with decreasing number of wells.

While the introduction and adaptation of the Longwall excavation technology were carried forward for coal producing countries in the Pacific region, U.S.A. information was collected by making tours of coal mines in the West and Washington/Colorado/Utah States, with the intention of ascertaining technological trend so as to carry out efficient technological transfer, and for the purpose of replenishing the contents and contributing to the smooth implementation of the engineer exchange project in 'coal mine technological field'. The coal reserves are 400 billion tons, with 840 million tons produced and with 80 million tons exported; not less than 56% of the U.S. domestic electricity rests on coal. Production by open-pit mining is the majority while the output by underground mining is 38%; the Longwall method has increased as a digging method, taking 18% of all digging output. The productivity is 4.24 ton/person per day and ranks as the world highest. The coal mining technological trend in the U.S. can be summarized as follows. The coal mining output in the West is increasing, with the number of mines decreasing, so that the output per mine is increasing. With the output ratio by open-pit mining increasing, the digging method in the mine is being changed to the Longwall. (NEDO)

Fort Morgan Peninsula is an attached portion of a dynamic barrier complex in the northern Gulf of Mexico and is a large tourist area that brings in a significant amount of revenue for Alabama. Many of the hotels and tourist attractions depend on the groundwater as their water supply. The over-withdrawal of groundwater and saltwater intrustion will have a negative impact on the ecology, tourism and economy if groundwater resources are not properly monitored and managed. In this study a calibrated groundwater flow model was used to analyze the sustainability of groundwater resources at Fort Morgan Peninsula. Detailed flow budgets were prepared to check the various components of inflow and outflow under different water use and climatic conditions. The results indicated the locations where groundwater was over-pumped and subjected to saltwater intrusion, or will be subjected to saltwater intrusion under a range of projected water use and climatic conditions.

Dauphin Island, Alabama is a barrier island located in the Northern Gulf of Mexico that supports local residences, tourism, commercial infrastructure, and the historical Fort Gaines. During the past decade, Dauphin Island has been impacted by several major hurricanes (Ivan, 2004; Katrina, 2005; Isaac, 2012). Storms, along with sea level rise, present a continued threat to island stability. State and federal managers are taking a scientific, investigative approach to identify the best options available to formulate and implement a long-term plan to properly restore Dauphin Island and provide resilience against future storms and sea-level rise. Island morphology, including current bathymetry and shoreline data, is one of several aspects being investigated and funded through a grant from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation Gulf Environmental Benefit Fund. In 2015, the United States Geological Survey Saint Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center (USGS SPCMSC), in cooperation with the United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) and the state of Alabama, conducted bathymetric surveys of the nearshore waters surrounding Dauphin Island. This data release provides 1,165-line kilometers (km) of processed single-beam bathymetry (SBB) data collected by the USGS SPCMSC in August 2015 (Field Activity Number [FAN] 2015-326-FA). Data were acquired aboard four separate survey vessels; the RV Sallenger (subFAN, 15BIM10), the RV Jabba Jaw (subFAN, 15BIM11), the RV Shark (subFAN, 15BIM12), and the RV Chum (subFAN, 15BIM13). The data are provided in three datums: 1) the International Terrestrial Reference Frame of 2000 (ITRF00), ellipsoid height (-47.04 meters [m] to -29.36 m); 2) the North American Datum of 1983, realization of CORS96 (NAD83 [CORS96]) horizontal, and the North American Vertical Datum 1988 (NAVD88) vertical (-0.24 m to -17.33 m); and 3) the NAD83 (CORS96) horizontal, and Mean Lower Low Water (MLLW) vertical (-0.12 m to -17.93 m). Additional files

The Lower Broas-Stockton coal is a heavily mined coal of the Central Appalachian Basin. Coal thickness, distribution, composition, and stratigraphic position were compared with basement structure, gas and oil field trends, and sequence strat- igraphic and paleoclimate interpretations to better understand the geology of the Stockton coal bed in eastern Kentucky. The thickest coal occurs south of the Warfield structural trend and east of the Paint Creek Uplift, two basement-related structures. Along the Warfield trend, coal beds in the underlying Peach Orchard coal zone locally merge with the Stockton coal to form a seam more than 3 m thick. Other areas of thick coal occur in elongate trends. Two pairs of elongate, conjugate trends in Stockton coal thickness are interpreted as regional paleofractures that influenced paleotopography and groundwater during peat accumulation. Compositional group analyses indicate that the Stockton peat infilled depressions in the paleotopography as a topogenous to soligenous mire codominated by tree ferns and lycopsid trees. Flooding from adjacent paleochannels is indicated by partings and seam splits along the margins of the mineable coal body. One or more increments of low-vitrinite coal, dominated by tree ferns and shrubby, Densosporites-producing lycopsids occur at all sample sites. Similar assemblages have been previously used to identify ombrogenous, domed mire origins for Early and Middle Pennsylvanian coals in which ash yields were less than 10%. It is difficult, however, to reconcile ombrogenous conditions with the partings in the Stockton coal in this area. Low-ash, low-vitrinite increments may have been formed in topogenous to soligenous mires with periodic drying or water-table fluctuations, rather than widespread doming. This is consistent with interpretations of increasingly seasonal paleoclimates in the late Middle and Late Pennsylvanian and fracture-influenced groundwater conditions. ??2005 Geological Society of America.

US Fish and Wildlife Service, Department of the Interior — We performed a comprehensive critique of trapping protocols, data analysis, and population viability analyses conducted to date for the Alabama beach mouse...

U.S. Geological Survey, Department of the Interior — A digital elevation model (DEM) of a portion of the Mississippi and Alabama barrier islands, post-Hurricane Gustav (September 2008 hurricane), was produced from...

US Fish and Wildlife Service, Department of the Interior — The Alabama cavefish, Speoplatyrhinus poulsoni, is one on of the most endangered species of fish in the world due to its low population size, restriction to a single...

U.S. Geological Survey, Department of the Interior — A digital elevation model (DEM) of a portion of the Mobile-Tensaw Delta region and Three Mile Creek in Alabama was produced from remotely sensed, geographically...

U.S. Geological Survey, Department of the Interior — Outcrop and subcrop extent of the Mississippi River Valley Alluvial Aquifer in Alabama, Arkansas, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Tennessee.

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — This data depicts the social vulnerability of Alabama census block groups to environmental hazards. Data were culled primarily from the 2000 Decennial Census.

US Fish and Wildlife Service, Department of the Interior — The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service conducted a 3-year monitoring program at the Iroquois National Wildlife Refuge, Alabama, New York to identify any contaminant...

U.S. Geological Survey, Department of the Interior — A digital elevation model (DEM) of a portion of the Mobile-Tensaw Delta region and Three Mile Creek in Alabama was produced from remotely sensed, geographically...

We compare the chromatographic signatures of petroleum biomarkers in Deepwater Horizon (DH) source oil, three other reference crude oils, DH emulsified mousse that arrived on Alabama's shoreline in June 2010, and seven tar balls collected from Alabama beaches from 2011 to 2012. Characteristic hopane and sterane fingerprints show that all the tar ball samples originated from DH oil. In addition, the diagnostic ratios of various hopanes indicate an excellent match. Quantitation data for C₃₀αβ-hopane concentration levels show that most of the weathering observed in DH-related tar balls found on Alabama's beaches is likely the result of natural evaporation and dissolution that occurred during transport across the Gulf of Mexico prior to beach deposition. Based on the physical and biomarker characterization data presented in this study we conclude that virtually all fragile, sticky, brownish tar balls currently found on Alabama shoreline originated from the DH oil spill.

US Fish and Wildlife Service, Department of the Interior — A two year study was undertaken to determine the status and distribution of the gopher tortoise Gopherus polyphemus in 24 counties in southern Alabama. Habitat...

U.S. Geological Survey, Department of the Interior — A digital elevation model (DEM) of a portion of the Mississippi and Alabama barrier islands, post-Hurricane Gustav (September 2008 hurricane), was produced from...

Fluid pressure change accompanying pumping in the Brady Geothermal Field is associated with two easily measureable deformation responses: (1) surface deformations and 2) seismic slip. Surface deformation can be imaged by InSAR and appears to correspond to volume change at depth. Seismic slip on fractures is likely induced by either changes in effective normal stress or solid stress with minimal impact to volume. Both responses have potential impact on permeability structure due to dilation or compaction along natural fractures. We present an integrated data set that compares pumping records with these deformation responses to investigate their coupling and to constrain the geometry and rheology of the reservoir and surrounding crust. We also seek to clarify the relationship between induced seismicity and pumping. Currently, the dominant pumping signal is pressure reduction resulting from on-going production since 1992. Surface subsidence extends over a region of approximately 5 km by 2 km with the long axis along the strike of the major normal faults associated with the reservoir. Smaller approximately 1 km length-scale regions of intense subsidence are associated bends or intersections among individual normal fault segments. Modeling of the deformation source indicates that the broader subsidence pattern is consistent with the majority of fluid extraction from a reservoir at a depth of approximately 1 km and extending along the entire length of the mapped Brady normal fault. The more intense subsidence is consistent with fluid extraction along steep conduits from shallower depths that extend to the main reservoir. These results indicate a reservoir much larger than would be expected from the footprint of the production wells. In contrast, seismicity is primarily concentrated along a narrow path between injecting and producing wells, but outside the regions of most intense subsidence. Overall, seismicity represents only a small fraction of the strain energy

There is no state law in Alabama prohibiting any form of employment discrimination. Rather, Alabama defers to federal law for providing its citizens with protections against discrimination based upon age, race, religion, sex, national origin, and disabilities. Only a few unsuccessful attempts have been made to enact legislation to prohibit sexual orientation discrimination, and none to prohibit discrimination on the basis of gender identity or expression. Neither the state nor any locality in...

: The Division of Neurosurgery at the University of Alabama at Birmingham was formally founded in 1954 under the leadership of James Garber Galbraith. The following 60 years would see neurosurgery at the forefront of the development of a nationally recognized medical center in the heart of Birmingham, Alabama. The Department of Neurosurgery now employs 14 faculty members, performs more than 4500 neurosurgical procedures annually, is active in clinical and laboratory research, and boasts a contemporary, comprehensive residency training program.

Watershed-scale monitoring, field aeration experiments, and geochemical equilibrium and kinetic modeling were conducted to evaluate interdependent changes in pH, dissolved CO2, O2, and Fe(II) concentrations that typically take place downstream of net-alkaline, circumneutral coal-mine drainage (CMD) outfalls and during aerobic treatment of such CMD. The kinetic modeling approach, using PHREEQC, accurately simulates observed variations in pH, Fe(II) oxidation, alkalinity consumption, and associated dissolved gas concentrations during transport downstream of the CMD outfalls (natural attenuation) and during 6-h batch aeration tests on the CMD using bubble diffusers (enhanced attenuation). The batch aeration experiments demonstrated that aeration promoted CO2 outgassing, thereby increasing pH and the rate of Fe(II) oxidation. The rate of Fe(II) oxidation was accurately estimated by the abiotic homogeneous oxidation rate law −d[Fe(II)]/dt = k1·[O2]·[H+]−2·[Fe(II)] that indicates an increase in pH by 1 unit at pH 5–8 and at constant dissolved O2 (DO) concentration results in a 100-fold increase in the rate of Fe(II) oxidation. Adjusting for sample temperature, a narrow range of values for the apparent homogeneous Fe(II) oxidation rate constant (k1′) of 0.5–1.7 times the reference value of k1 = 3 × 10−12 mol/L/min (for pH 5–8 and 20 °C), reported by Stumm and Morgan (1996), was indicated by the calibrated models for the 5-km stream reach below the CMD outfalls and the aerated CMD. The rates of CO2 outgassing and O2ingassing in the model were estimated with first-order asymptotic functions, whereby the driving force is the gradient of the dissolved gas concentration relative to equilibrium with the ambient atmosphere. Although the progressive increase in DO concentration to saturation could be accurately modeled as a kinetic function for the conditions evaluated, the simulation of DO as an instantaneous equilibrium process did not affect the

The utility of USDA-developed Russian and varroa sensitive hygiene (VSH) honey bees, Apis mellifera L. (Hymenoptera: Apidae), was compared with that of locally produced, commercial Italian bees during 2004-2006 in beekeeping operations in Alabama, USA. Infestations of varroa mites, Varroa destructor Anderson & Truman (Acari: Varroidae), were measured twice each year, and colonies that reached established economic treatment thresholds (one mite per 100 adult bees in late winter; 5-10 mites per 100 adult bees in late summer) were treated with acaricides. Infestations of tracheal mites, Acarapis woodi (Rennie) (Acari: Tarsonemidae), were measured autumn and compared with a treatment threshold of 20% mite prevalence. Honey production was measured in 2005 and 2006 for colonies that retained original test queens. Throughout the three seasons of measurement, resistant stocks required less treatment against parasitic mites than the Italian stock. The total percentages of colonies needing treatment against varroa mites were 12% of VSH, 24% of Russian, and 40% of Italian. The total percentages requiring treatment against tracheal mites were 1% of Russian, 8% of VSH and 12% of Italian. The average honey yield of Russian and VSH colonies was comparable with that of Italian colonies each year. Beekeepers did not report any significant behavioral problems with the resistant stocks. These stocks thus have good potential for use in nonmigratory beekeeping operations in the southeastern United States.

Three side-by-side lab houses were built, instrumented and monitored in an effort to determine through field testing and analysis the relative contributions of select technologies toward reducing energy use in new manufactured homes.The lab houses in Russellville, Alabama compared the performance of three homes built to varying levels of thermal integrity and HVAC equipment: a baseline HUD-code home equipped with an electric furnace and a split system air conditioner; an ENERGY STAR manufactured home with an enhanced thermal envelope and traditional split system heat pump; and a house designed to qualify for Zero Energy Ready Home designation with a ductless mini-split heat pump with transfer fan distribution system in place of the traditional duct system for distribution. Experiments were conducted in the lab houses to evaluate impact on energy and comfort of interior door position, window blind position and transfer fan operation. The report describes results of tracer gas and co-heating tests and presents calculation of the heat pump coefficient of performance for both the traditional heat pump and the ductless mini-split. A series of calibrated energy models was developed based on measured data and run in three locations in the Southeast to compare annual energy usage of the three homes.

The price of gasoline has been found to be negatively associated with traffic crashes in a limited number of studies. However, most of the studies have focused either on fatal crashes only or on all crashes but measured over a very short time period. In this study, we examine gasoline price effects on all traffic crashes by demographic groups in the state of Alabama from 1999 to 2009. Using negative binomial regression techniques to examine monthly data from 1999 to 2009 in the state of Alabama, we estimate the effects of changes in gasoline price on changes in automobile crashes. We also examine how these effects differ by age group (16-20, 21-25, 26-30, 31-64, and 65+), gender (male and female), and race/ethnicity (non-Hispanic white, non-Hispanic black, and Hispanic). The results show that gasoline prices have both short-term and long-term effects on reducing total traffic crashes and crashes of each age, gender, and race/ethnicity group (except Hispanic due to data limitations). The short-term and long-term effects are not statistically different for each individual demographic group. Gasoline prices have a stronger effect in reducing crashes involving drivers aged 16 to 20 than crashes involving drivers aged 31 to 64 and 65+ in the short term; the effects, however, are not statistically different across other demographic groups. Although gasoline price increases are not favored, our findings show that gasoline price increases (or decreases) are associated with reductions (or increases) in the incidence of traffic crashes. If gasoline prices had remained at the 1999 level of $1.41 from 1999 to 2009, applying the estimated elasticities would result in a predicted increase in total crashes of 169,492 (or 11.3%) from the actual number of crashes. If decision makers wish to reduce traffic crashes, increasing gasoline taxes is a possible option-however, doing so would increase travel costs and lead to equity concerns. These findings may help to shape transportation

Full Text Available Of the 29% foreign members in the Société de Spéléologie, five lived in USA. They were Luella Owen (the only woman member of the Société, R. Ellsworth Cali, H.C. Hovey, E Van Epps and C. R. Blackall. E.S. Balch, though not a member, also knew Martel. These members, between them, published ten papers in Spelunca, which also reviewed their other work. The activities of these six, and their links with France, are discussed. Martel actively encouraged cave work in America, as elsewhere, and Hovey, who had been with him during the survey of Aven Armand, he knew quite well. In 1912 Martel at last visited USA himself and the barometer readings he took in Mamoth Cave to measure altitude enabled him to draw the first longitudinal section of the cave since 1835.

We describe the demographics of the decedents from the tornado outbreak in Alabama on April 27, 2011; examine the circumstances of death surrounding these fatalities; and identify measures to prevent future tornado-related fatalities. We collected information about the decedents from death certificates, disaster-related mortality surveillance, and interview data collected by American Red Cross volunteers from the decedent's families. We describe demographic characteristics, circumstances and causes of death, and sheltering behaviors before death. Of the 247 fatalities, females and older adults were at highest risk for tornado-related deaths. Most deaths were directly related to the tornadoes, on scene, and trauma-related. The majority of the deceased were indoors in single-family homes. Word of mouth was the most common warning mechanism. This tornado event was the third deadliest in recent US history. Our findings support the need for local community shelters, enhanced messaging to inform the public of shelter locations, and encouragement of word-of-mouth warnings and personal and family preparedness planning, with a special focus on assisting vulnerable individuals in taking shelter.

Two approaches are used to characterize how accurately the North Alabama Lightning Mapping Array (LMA) is able to locate lightning VHF sources in space and in time. The first method uses a Monte Carlo computer simulation to estimate source retrieval errors. The simulation applies a VHF source retrieval algorithm that was recently developed at the NASA-MSFC and that is similar, but not identical to, the standard New Mexico Tech retrieval algorithm. The second method uses a purely theoretical technique (i.e., chi-squared Curvature Matrix theory) to estimate retrieval errors. Both methods assume that the LMA system has an overall rms timing error of 50ns, but all other possible errors (e.g., multiple sources per retrieval attempt) are neglected. The detailed spatial distributions of retrieval errors are provided. Given that the two methods are completely independent of one another, it is shown that they provide remarkably similar results, except that the chi-squared theory produces larger altitude error estimates than the (more realistic) Monte Carlo simulation.

General Motors (GM) is studying the feasibility of aquifer thermal energy storage (ATES) for air conditioning at their Harrison Division plant located in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Pacific Northwest Laboratory (PNL) has assisted in this effort by conducting field tests to measure the hydraulic properties of the proposed ATES well field, which will be within the unconfined aquifer and adjacent to the GM plant. Results showed that in the vicinity of the test well, transmissivity was 2000 ft{sup 2}/d, effective aquifer thickness was 50 ft, effective porosity was 6.2%, hydraulic gradient was 0.005, and seepage velocity was 3.2 ft/d. A second test series at a newly constructed well was expanded to include measuring specific capacity and investigating the vertical distribution of flow within the aquifer. Specific objectives were to determine the injection capacity of the aquifer and to examine efficiency of the well design. Transmissivity was 2300 to 2600 ft{sup 2}/d, effective aquifer thickness was 58 ft, effective porosity was 6.0 to 8.0%, hydraulic gradient was 0.0047, and seepage velocity was 3.1 to 2.7 ft/d. Injection capacity, based on a step-injection test, was approximately 17 gpm/ft and was independent of flow rate within the experimental range 90 to 338 gpm. Maximum hydraulic conductivity occurred within the uppermost 20 ft of saturated sediments, which consisted of well-sorted sand. Below the sand, sorting was progressively poorer with depth, and hydraulic conductivity decreased smoothly. At the base of the aquifer, hydraulic conductivity was less than 10% of that of the uppermost 20 ft. 7 refs., 10 figs.

Based on field data from 10 USA cities and national urban tree cover data, it is estimated that urban trees in the coterminous USA currently store 700 million tonnes of carbon ($14,300 million value) with a gross carbon sequestration rate of 22.8 million tC/yr ($460 rnillion/year). Carbon storage within cities ranges From 1.2 million tC in New York, NY, to 19,300 tC in...

Directors of Alabama's 180 public libraries and 21 library systems were surveyed to determine their use and opinions of the "1988 Standards for Public Library Service in Alabama." Replies included feedback on standards directors considered most or least helpful and suggestions for additional standards. Analysis of the responses is…

In November 1994, directors of Alabama's 21 public library systems were surveyed to determine their experiences with, and opinions of, the 1988 "Standards for Public Library Service in Alabama." Replies were received from nine (34%) of the directors. Directors were provided with a list of 15 ways in which they might have used the system…

... AGENCY Adequacy Status of the Alabama Portion (Jackson County) of the Chattanooga, Tennessee Tri-State... the tri-state Chattanooga, Tennessee nonattainment area (hereafter referred to as the ``Jackson County... County, Alabama as part of the tri-state Chattanooga 1997 PM 2.5 nonattainment area. The tri-state...

The availability of wetlands and shallow water habitats significantly influences Gulf of Mexico (GOM) penaeid shrimp fishery productivity. However, the GOM region has the highest rate of wetland loss in the U.S. Protection and management of these vital GOM habitats are critical t...

The estuarine environment can serve as either a source or sink of carbon relative to the coastal ocean carbon budget. A variety of time-dependent processes such as sedimentation, carbon supply, and productivity dictate how estuarine systems operate, and Mobile Bay is a system that has experienced both natural and anthropogenic perturbations that influenced depositional processes and carbon cycling. Sediments from eight box cores provide a record of change in bulk sediment accumulation and carbon burial over the past 110 years. Accumulation rates in the central part of the basin (0.09 g cm−2) were 60–80 % less than those observed at the head (0.361 g cm−2) and mouth (0.564 g cm−2) of the bay. Sediment accumulation in the central bay decreased during the past 90 years in response to both anthropogenic (causeway construction) and natural (tropical cyclones) perturbations. Sediment accumulation inevitably increased the residence time of organic carbon in the oxic zone, as observed in modeled remineralization rates, and reduced the overall carbon burial. Such observations highlight the critical balance among sediment accumulation, carbon remineralization, and carbon burial in dynamic coastal environments. Time-series analysis based solely on short-term observation would not capture the long-term effects of changes in sedimentation on carbon cycling. Identifying these relationships over longer timescales (multi-annual to decadal) will provide a far better evaluation of coastal ocean carbon budgets.

The availability of wetlands and shallow water habitats significantly influences Gulf of Mexico (GOM) penaeid shrimp fishery productivity. However, the GOM region has the highest rate of wetland loss in the U.S. Protection and management of these vital GOM habitats are critical t...

Arrays that detect and locate the four-dimensional spacetime positions of radiation sources from lightning have largely utilized sensors sensitive to the very high frequency (VHF) regime with ˜ 15 km baselines or very low frequency/low frequency (VLF/LF) regime with ˜ 100 km baselines. This paper details initial results from the newly developed Huntsville Alabama Marx Meter Array (HAMMA), consisting of Marx meters (electric field change meters) sensitive to a frequency band ˜ 1 Hz to 400 kHz. The arrival time of HAMMA waveforms due to radiation sources from lightning are used to determine the spacetime position of these sources. The locations are compared with two well-documented and operational arrays, the National Lightning Detection Network (NLDN) and the North Alabama Lightning Mapping Array (NALMA). The standard deviation of the difference between HAMMA and NLDN locations of return strokes is 305 and 266 m in x and y, respectively, while the standard deviation of the difference between HAMMA and NALMA sources is 237, 226, and 688 m in x, y and z, respectively. We further show that NLDN intracloud locations differ in horizontal distance from the corresponding HAMMA locations by a median value of 479 m. In addition, we use HAMMA source locations to map several lightning flashes in the VLF/LF and show HAMMA sources largely map out the same electrical extent as VHF sources and provide unique insights to the properties of the discharges occurring. Finally, we show that VLF/LF sources can determine the leader polarity in several example flashes but not necessarily whether a flash comes to ground. Copyright 2013 American Geophysical Union. All rights reserved.

Hookworm infection affects 430 million people worldwide, causing iron deficiency, impaired cognitive development, and stunting in children. Because of the environmental conditions needed for the hookworm life-cycle, this parasite is endemic to resource-limited countries. Necator americanus was endemic in the southern United States before improvement of sewage disposal systems and eradication programs. With continued poverty, poor sanitation, and an environment suitable for the hookworm life-cycle in some regions of the southern United States, a current prevalence study using modern molecular diagnostics is warranted. Lowndes County, Alabama, was chosen as the study site given previous high hookworm burdens, degree of poverty, and use of open-sewage systems. Participants were interviewed, and stool, serum, and soil samples were tested for nine intestinal parasites using a multiparallel quantitative real-time PCR (qPCR) and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays . We found that, among 24 households, 42.4% reported exposure to raw sewage within their home, and from 55 stool samples, 19 (34.5%) tested positive for N. americanus, four (7.3%) for Strongyloides stercoralis, and one (1.8%) for Entamoeba histolytica. Stool tested positive for N. americanus contained low levels of parasite DNA (geometric mean 0.0302 fg/µL). Soil studies detected one (2.9%) Cryptosporidium species, and Toxocara serology assay detected one (5.2%) positive in this population. Individuals living in this high-risk environment within the United States continue to have stool samples positive for N. americanus. Gastrointestinal parasites known to be endemic to developing countries are identifiable in American poverty regions, and areas with lower disease burden are more likely to be identified by using qPCR.

The aim of the bachelor thesis "Ethnocentrism in the USA" is to find basic forms of ethnocentrism and to identify the ones that are in the USA. The Czech and American cultures are compared in the thesis via author's research. Then the rate of ethnocentrism in the USA is evaluated. Interviewing young people gives a current trend and an expectation of future course of the ethnocentrism.

The objective of this Bachelor thesis is to map out the historical development of multiculturalism in the USA and to deal with the current issues of this phenomenon. For instance, this thesis deals with the process of hispanization in the USA or with the so called affirmative action in the American society. The first part of this thesis explains the term multiculturalism in theory. The second part focuses on the history of the USA and their milestones connected with the development of multicu...

Methods of estimating flood magnitudes for exceedance probabilities of 50, 20, 10, 4, 2, 1, 0.5, and 0.2 percent have been developed for urban streams in Alabama that are not significantly affected by dams, flood detention structures, hurricane storm surge, or substantial tidal fluctuations. Regression relations were developed using generalized least-squares regression techniques to estimate flood magnitude and frequency on ungaged streams as a function of the basin drainage area and percentage of basin developed. These methods are based on flood-frequency characteristics for 20 streamgaging stations in Alabama and 3 streamgaging stations in adjacent States having 10 or more years of record through September 2007.

Major unknowns in lightning research include the mechanism and dynamics of lightning channel extension. Such processes are most simple during the initial growth of the channel, when the channel is relatively short and has not yet branched extensively throughout the cloud. During this initial growth phase, impulsive electromagnetic emissions (preliminary breakdown pulses) can be well-described as produced by current pulses generated as the channel extends, but the overall growth rate, channel geometry, and degree of branching are not known. We approach such issues by examining electric field change measurements made with the Huntsville Alabama Marx Meter Array (HAMMA) during the first few milliseconds of growth of a lightning discharge. We compare HAMMA observations of electromagnetic emissions and overall field change to models of lightning channel growth and development and attempt to constrain channel growth rate, degree of branching, channel physical properties, and uniformity of thunderstorm electric field. Preliminary comparisons suggest that the lightning channel branches relatively early in the discharge, though more complete and detailed analysis will be presented.

Geothermal and geopressure as well as geologic and geophysical data were studied to evaluate the potential for future development of geothermal resources underlying the Alabama Coastal Plain. Wire-line log data compiled and interpreted from more than 1300 oil and gas test wells included maximum recorded temperatures, mud weights, rock resistivities as related to geopressure, formation tops, fault locations, and depths to basement rock. The Alabama Coastal Plain area is underlain by a conduction dominated, deep sedimentary basin where geothermal gradients are low to moderate (1.0 to 1.8/sup 0/F/100 feet). In some areas of southwest Alabama, abnormally high temperatures are found in association with geopressured zones within the Haynesville Formation of Jurassic age; however, rocks of poor reservoir quality dominate this formation, with the exception of a 200-square-mile area centered in southernmost Clarke County where a porous and permeable sand unit is encased within massive salt deposits of the lower Haynesville. The results of a petrograhic study of the Smackover Formation, which underlies the Haynesville, indicate that this carbonate rock unit has sufficient porosity in some areas to be considered a potential geothermal reservoir. Future development of geothermal resources in south Alabama will be restricted to low or moderate temperature, non-electric applications, which constitute a significant potential energy source for applications in space heating and cooling and certain agricultural and industrial processes.

Written communication and oral communication are inextricably linked as essential life skills and as desirable educational outcomes. However, there is a clear disconnect between what Alabama colleges expect of their graduates and what they are providing them in terms of oral communication education. The steps taken to develop the general studies…

During late 2009, four Tennessee Space Grant undergraduate researchers began a remote sensing investigation of urban growth southeast of Mobile Bay, Alabama. They selected the study area in consultation with the Marshall Space Flight Center Earth Science Office, and they share the study area with a multi-institution NASA-funded project exploring the application of remotely sensed data and related models to conservation and restoration along the northern Gulf of Mexico coast. In the first phase of the Space Grant investigation, four undergraduate researchers used a November 7, 2009 Landsat scene to map developed land near Mobile, Alabama. They used supervised and unsupervised classification to map developed land in two areas: 10 miles southeast of Mobile along U.S. Route 98 between Daphne and Fairhope, Alabama, and 25 miles southeast of Mobile near Foley, Alabama. Visual comparison of their map with the circa 2001 National Land Cover Dataset (NLCD) revealed urban growth in both areas. In the year ahead, Space Grant undergraduates will explore ways to improve their map by incorporating ancillary vector data and images. They will also collect reference data on the ground, and then they will use ground-based reference data and air photos to assess map accuracy. As an ultimate goal, the Space Grant undergraduates seek to compare their results with those of the larger multi-institution project. The Space Grant investigation will lead to a better understanding of the potential for undergraduate interaction with a large NASA-funded remote sensing applications project.

Recruiters and marketers within the Alabama Community College System are tasked with increasing enrollment at their institutions. The methods of accomplishing this goal include traditional strategies as well as new and emerging ones. Unlike personnel at other institutions of higher learning, however, community college recruiters and marketers have…

Geothermal and geopressure as well as geologic and geophysical data were studied to evaluate the potential for future development of geothermal resources underlying the Alabama Coastal Plain. Wire-line log data compiled and interpreted from more than 1300 oil and gas test wells included maximum recorded temperatures, mud weights, rock resistivities as related to geopressure, formation tops, fault locations, and depths to basement rock. The Alabama Coastal Plain area is underlain by a conduction dominated, deep sedimentary basin where geothermal gradients are low to moderate (1.0 to 1.8/sup 0/F/100 feet). In some areas of southwest Alabama, abnormally high temperatures are found in association with geopressured zones within the Haynesville Formation of Jurassic age; however, rocks of poor reservoir quality dominate this formation, with the exception of a 200-square-mile area centered in southernmost Clarke County where a porous and permeable sand unit is encased within massive salt deposits of the lower Haynesville. The results of a petrograhic study of the Smackover Formation, which underlies the Haynesville, indicate that this carbonate rock unit has sufficient porosity in some areas to be considered a potential geothermal reservoir. Future development of geothermal resources in south Alabama will be restricted to low or moderate temperature, non-electric applications, which constitute a significant potential energy source for applications in space heating and cooling and certain agricultural and industrial processes.

Planning for the Alabama Space and Rocket Center's new recreational-educational complex included (1) goal establishment, (2) needs assessment (including accessibility for the disabled), (3) environmental impact analysis, (4) formulation of objectives and priorities, and (5) strategy development to meet objectives, as well as preparation of a…

..., Mobile, AL; Troy University, Troy, AL; Appalachian State University, Boone, NC; various private..., and Choctawhatchee River basins of Alabama and Florida; and to localized portions of the Mobile River... use a telecommunications device for the deaf (TDD), call the Federal Information Relay Service...

Established in the 1920s, the Education Policy Center (EPC) is the oldest center or institute at The University of Alabama. Our work centers on four interrelated areas: (a) access and finance of public higher education, (b) college completion, (c) Pell Grants, and (d) rural community colleges. As place-based institutions with service delivery…

Long known as a college-football powerhouse, the University of Alabama (UA) is now considered a model for institutions seeking to maintain or boost their academic quality even as enrollments increase and budgets are squeezed. According to Carol Twigg, president of the National Center for Academic Transformation (NCAT), which has been a significant…

Written communication and oral communication are inextricably linked as essential life skills and as desirable educational outcomes. However, there is a clear disconnect between what Alabama colleges expect of their graduates and what they are providing them in terms of oral communication education. The steps taken to develop the general studies…

coastal habitats have been altered by sand excavation for commercial and beach nourishment purposes, producing artificial holes and depressions. These...inshore coastal habitats have been altered extensively by sand excavation for commercial aggregate and beach nourishment purposes producing artificial...These values were consistent with those reported by Vittor and Associates (1982). A separate study conducted by the Alabama Coastal Area Board (ACAB

Widespread horseweed resistance to glyphosate has resulted in the use of dicamba as an alternative treatment. Horseweed populations in Cherokee and DeKalb counties in northern Alabama were not well controlled following glyphosate and dicamba treatments. This research evaluates horseweed populations ...

The purpose of this study is to provide information on the number and racial composition of students and workers in selected health care professions in the State of Alabama, and to analyze these data. Professions covered include dentistry, dental hygiene, nursing, medicine, medical technology, and occupational therapy. A description of how data…

The entrepreneurial development and experiential education environments of Oakwood College, Huntsville, Alabama, are described. The college-owned industries of the dairy, farm, garment and linen service, bakery, food manufacturing, convenience store, and snack bar are discussed in terms of markets and marketing, permissions and protections,…

... listed under ADDRESSES. Covered Area The GCP coverage area extends along the Gulf of Mexico for about 17 miles, encompassing approximately 2,400 acres of open beach and associated nearshore coastal dune environments on the Fort Morgan Peninsula, Baldwin County, Alabama. The coverage area begins at Little Lagoon...

A study was conducted at a community college in northeast Alabama to determine how the format of developmental English courses impacted student withdrawal rates and final grades. The two course formats examined were online/hybrid and face-to-face courses. Data were obtained from a 4-semester time frame: fall 2012, spring 2013, summer 2013, and…

While CDC reports on the health and economic burden of smoking in the United States, state-specific data are not readily available. We estimated the health and economic consequences of cigarette smoking in Alabama to provide the state legislature with the state-specific data that reveal the direct impact of smoking on their constituents. We estimated that in 2009, almost 7,900 adult deaths (18% of all adult deaths) and approximately 121,000 years of potential life lost among Alabama adults aged 35 years and older were attributable to cigarette smoking. Productivity losses due to premature death and smoking-attributable illness were estimated at $2.84 billion and $941 million, respectively. Our findings support a strong need for tobacco control and prevention programs to decrease the health and economic burden of smoking in Alabama. These results are being used by the State Health Officer to illustrate the real costs of smoking in Alabama and to advocate for improved tobacco control policies.

Two water tupelo (Nyssa aquatica L.) stands in the Mobile Delta of Alabama were selected to test the hypothesis that mechanized felling does not reduce establishment and growth of natural water tupelo regeneration relative to traditional tree felling with chainsaws. To test the hypothesis, we established six 2 acre treatment plots in each of two...

This report covers programmatic accomplishments of the Alabama DOE/EPSCoR Traineeship Program for the period September 28, 1991 to September 29, 1995. The Alabama DOE/EPSCoR Traineeship Program is an integral part of this state`s efforts to address barriers that inhibit the full development and substantial growth of energy-related research at the six major research institutions and at Alabama`s Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). To overcome these barriers it was determined that the following actions were needed: Area 1: Strengthening the Research Faculty Base Area 2: Increasing the Number of Outstanding Graduate Students Area 3: Improving the Research Environment Area 4: Developing the Human Resources Base Area 5. Improving the Energy-related Infrastructure, Collaborations and Communications. Although the DOE/EPSCoR Traineeship Grant complements each of the areas listed above, its primary emphasis is the enhancement of opportunities for graduate students. The extent to which this program has met this challenge during the three year funding period constitutes the substance of this report.

... cardiovascular disease (i.e., lung disease, decreased lung function, asthma attacks and certain cardiovascular..., children, and individuals with heart and lung diseases. For more details regarding health effects and PM 2....5 SMC into the Alabama SIP as EPA believes the use of the SMC is a valid exercise of the Agency's...

Three purposes guided compilation of this final report on the nutritional status of New Orleans, Mississippi, and Alabama Head Start children: (1) to evaluate the causes of anemia through detailed studies of urban New Orleans preschool children and their mothers, (2) to study the effect of dietary supplementation of school feeding programs upon…

Long known as a college-football powerhouse, the University of Alabama (UA) is now considered a model for institutions seeking to maintain or boost their academic quality even as enrollments increase and budgets are squeezed. According to Carol Twigg, president of the National Center for Academic Transformation (NCAT), which has been a significant…

The Alabama Counseling Association (ALCA) has an ongoing plan for professional growth and development reflective of the multiple counseling professions and the diversity of its members. Based on the development and history of the organization, this research project was designed to assess ALCA's progress toward achieving its stated outcome goals. A…

This study investigated the perceived factors that enabled an Alabama School Assistance Team (ASAT) to be effective in helping improve a low performing school. A case study was conducted with the ASATs and the Local Education Agency (LEA) site they served. Data were collected from interviews, documents and observations. The perceptions explored in…

This handbook provides ideas and guidelines for the management and development of a children's summer reading program that uses the resources provided by the Alabama Public Library Service. Chapters offer suggestions in the areas of program planning, reading requirements and records, publicity, program activities, and program evaluation. Samples…

From 1910 to 1930, illiteracy rates among Alabama's Black population decreased. Yet it is doubtful that the State's literacy campaign was a major contributor to the decline in Black illiteracy; the campaign was closely tied to the White supremacy movement, and most of the funds were directed toward White education. (GC)

The highest mercury (Hg) wet deposition in the United States of America (USA) occurs along the Gulf of Mexico, and in the southern and central Mississippi River Valley. Gaseous oxidized Hg (GOM) is thought to be a major contributor due to high water solubility and reactivity. Therefore, it is critical to understand concentrations, potential for wet and dry deposition, and GOM compounds present in the air. Concentrations and dry-deposition fluxes of GOM were measured and calculated for Naval Air Station Pensacola Outlying Landing Field (OLF) in Florida using data collected by a Tekran® 2537/1130/1135, the University of Nevada Reno Reactive Mercury Active System (UNRRMAS) with cation exchange and nylon membranes, and the Aerohead samplers that use cation-exchange membranes to determine dry deposition. Relationships with Tekran®-derived data must be interpreted with caution, since the GOM concentrations measured are biased low depending on the chemical compounds in air and interferences with water vapor and ozone.Criteria air pollutants were concurrently measured. This allowed for comparison and better understanding of GOM.In addition to other methods previously applied at OLF, use of the UNRRMAS provided a platform for determination of the chemical compounds of GOM in the air. Results from nylon membranes with thermal desorption analyses indicated seven GOM compounds in this area, including HgBr2, HgCl2, HgO, Hg-nitrogen and sulfur compounds, and two unknown compounds. This indicates that the site is influenced by different gaseous phase reactions and sources. Using back-trajectory analysis during a high-GOM event related to high CO, but average SO2, indicated air parcels moved from the free troposphere and across Arkansas, Mississippi, and Alabama at low elevation (compounds. Overall, GOM chemistry indicates oxidation reactions with local mobile source pollutants and long-range transport.In order to develop methods to measure GOM concentrations and chemistry, and

The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Alabama Department of Agriculture and Industries, sampled a network of 15 wells for up to 167 pesticides and pesticide degradates from 2009 through 2013 in three areas of high-density row-crop agriculture in Alabama. Eighteen herbicides, 2 fungicides, and 9 degradates were detected in water from the sampled wells. The highest concentration of a detected pesticide was 4.49 micrograms per liter of bentazon in Baldwin County, Alabama, which was well below the lifetime health advisory level of 200 micrograms per liter. None of the measured pesticide concentrations exceeded a human-health benchmark. Insecticides were not detected.

This paper examines the evolving and dynamic field of homeland security in the USA. Included in this analysis is the evolution of the creation of the Department of Homeland Security, an overview of the National Warning System, a summary of citizen support groups, and how the field of homeland security has had an impact on the location and architecture of public buildings and facilities. Also included are website directories of citizen support groups and federal agencies related to the field of homeland security.

In March through May of 2016, a wind tunnel test was conducted by the Aerosciences Branch (EV33) to visually study the unsteady aerodynamic behavior over multiple transition geometries for the Universal Stage Adapter 2 (USA2) in the MSFC Aerodynamic Research Facility's Trisonic Wind Tunnel (TWT). The purpose of the test was to make a qualitative comparison of the transonic flow field in order to provide a recommended minimum transition radius for manufacturing. Additionally, 6 Degree of Freedom force and moment data for each configuration tested was acquired in order to determine the geometric effects on the longitudinal aerodynamic coefficients (Normal Force, Axial Force, and Pitching Moment). In order to make a quantitative comparison of the aerodynamic effects of the USA2 transition geometry, the aerodynamic coefficient data collected during the test was parsed and incorporated into a database for each USA2 configuration tested. An incremental aerodynamic coefficient database was then developed using the generated databases for each USA2 geometry as a function of Mach number and angle of attack. The final USA2 coefficient increments will be applied to the aerodynamic coefficients of the baseline geometry to adjust the Space Launch System (SLS) integrated launch vehicle force and moment database based on the transition geometry of the USA2.

Full Text Available Florida (USA, particularly the southern portion of the State, is in a precarious situation concerning arboviral diseases. The geographic location, climate, lifestyle, and the volume of travel and commerce are all conducive to arbovirus transmission. During the last decades, imported dengue cases have been regularly recorded in Florida, and the recent re-emergence of dengue as a major public health concern in the Americas has been accompanied by a steady increase in the number of imported cases. In 2009, there were 28 cases of locally transmitted dengue in Key West, and in 2010, 65 cases were reported. Local transmission was also reported in Martin County in 2013 (29 cases, and isolated locally transmitted cases were also reported from other counties in the last five years. Dengue control and prevention in the future will require close cooperation between mosquito control and public health agencies, citizens, community and government agencies, and medical professionals to reduce populations of the vectors and to condition citizens and visitors to take personal protection measures that minimize bites by infected mosquitoes.

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — The imagery posted on this site is of the Gulf Coast of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama after Hurricane Katrina made landfall. The regions photographed range from...

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — This data set contains the 1996-era and 2005-era classifications for Alabama, a subset of zone 46, and can be used to analyze change. This imagery was collected as...

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — Abstract: This dataset contains ten years of physical, chemical, and biological data collected during shipboard surveys in Weeks Bay, Alabama, between June 1990 and...

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) USA-300 strains have emerged as an important cause of community-acquired infections. These strains have been recognized as an etiology of osteomyelitis but data on their incidence and outcomes are limited. We retrospectively studied the incidence and clinical outcomes of MRSA USA-300 osteomyelitis in patients at the University of Louisville Hospital and the Henry Ford Health System between January 2007 and March 2008. Pulsed-field gel electrophoresis was used to determine USA type. Clinical outcomes were defined as management success versus failure at 12 months. Chi-square tests, Fisher exact tests, and Mann-Whitney tests were used to compare patient characteristics on the basis of clinical outcomes and USA type. Of the 50 patients with MRSA osteomyelitis, 27 (54%) had the USA-300 strain. Clinical failure was identified in 22% (6/27) of the patients with MRSA USA-300 and in 30% (7/23) of the patients with MRSA non-USA-300 osteomyelitis (P = .509). Our results showed that MRSA USA-300 is a significant etiology of MRSA osteomyelitis. With current surgical and medical management, outcomes of patients with MRSA USA-300 osteomyelitis are similar to those of patients with MRSA non-USA-300 osteomyelitis.

Full Text Available This paper explores the University of Alabama's positions, actions, policies, and accomplishments over the past forty years with respect to minority representation among its students and faculty. The impact and progression of these initiatives by the University of Alabama demonstrates strides have been made. The paper also examines the University's recruiting efforts to attract more minority faculty and students. The transition from integration to affirmative action to diversity in higher education also are examined.

full text: Frogs and toads are perhaps the most approachable and available of all our wildlife. In many, if not most places, they are abundant. In wetter parts of the East, almost anyone outside on a warm rainy night in spring will hear their dream-like calls, bellows, trills and snores. Even in the deserts of the Southwest, a nocturnal trip after a summer monsoon will yield toads moving across the roads toward a cacophonous orgy of mating and calling in the roadside ditches and desert pools. Birds share with frogs and toads this same sense of presence in our daily lives. But the difference is that birds are like the attractive neighbor who just never gives you the time of day, while frogs are more like the troglodyte who appears regularly to chat, philosophize, and have a beer. Uninvited, frogs appear in our water gardens, toads are on our stoops in the morning, we catch them when we are kids, raise their babies in the aquarium, and feel sorry when we find we have run them over with the lawnmower. When concerns about declining populations of amphibians reached the mass media, the Secretaries' office became involved. In addition to using traditional research mechanisms to investigate the problem, the Secretary also wanted to involve the public directly. The combination of high public appeal and the relative ease with which frog calls can be learned made a large-scale monitoring program for frogs and toads possible. What emerged was a program called Frogwatch USA, modeled after a successful Canadian program with a similar name. A web site was created (www.frogwatch.org) that presented potential frogwatchers with directions and a way to register their site online as well as enter their data. Observers chose where to count frogs depending on what they felt was important. For some it was their backyard, others chose vulnerable wetlands in their neighborhoods, or spots on local refuges and parks. Initially funded at $8,000 a year and then after two years increased to

A technique for detecting and measuring the interface between two categories in classified scanner data is described together with two application demonstrations. Measurements were found to be accurate to 1.5% root mean square error on features of known length while comparison of measurements made using the technique on LANDSAT data to opisometer measurements on 1:24,000 scale maps shows excellent agreement. Application of the technique to two frames of LANDSAT data classified using a two channel, two class classifier resulted in a computation of 64 km annual decrease in shoreline length. The tidal shoreline of a portion of Alabama was measured using LANDSAT data. Based on the measurement of this portion, the total tidal shoreline length of Alabama is estimated to be 1313 kilometers.

Full Text Available This article describes the evolution of the coastal economy in Alabama and examines the driving forces of the sustainable economy in a historical context. The input-output model was applied to assess the direct and secondary effects of output and employment in the coastal region. Results suggest that state industries are heavily dependent on waterfront-related activities in this area, which have fueled much of their rapid development in the past few decades. Tourism, ship building and repairing and transportation are the three dominating sources contributing to the coastal economy. There are a few general problems of working waterfronts in the coastal Alabama area, but there are also some unique problems (e.g., Hurricane Katrina, Deepwater Horizon oil spill. Policies for future sustainable development are proposed.

On May 28, 1958, Jupiter Intermediate Range Ballistic Missile provided by U.S. Army team in Huntsville, Alabama, launched a nose cone carrying Baker, a South American squirrel monkey and Able, an American-born rhesus monkey. Baker, pictured here and commonly known as 'Miss Baker', was later given a home at the U.S. Space and Rocket Center until her death on November 29, 1984. Able died in 1958. (Photo - Courtesy of Huntsville/Madison County Public Library)

Birmingham, Alabama has a long history of racial conflict and segregation. This dissertation investigates that how that history has shaped space in the region and the consequences of that spatial production on the current alternative food and agriculture movement. Specifically, I analyze three processes that produce Birmingham's racialized space - capital accumulation, racialization, and commoning. I first look at how Birmingham's segregated space shapes the initiatives of the alternative ...

The source of the New York - Alabama Magnetic Lineament (NY AML) is revealed on newly reprocessed seismic reflection data, and the Grenville Front Tectonic Zone (GFTZ) is imaged beneath it in eastern Tennessee. Industry data, correlated to lower crustal depths, image a wedge-shaped block beneath the shelf strata of the Cumberland Plateau and Valley and Ridge provinces of eastern Tennessee. Two dimensional gravity and magnetic modeling corroborate the interpretation that t...

Circumstantial and physical evidence indicates that the 1997 MW 4.9 earthquake in southern Alabama may have been related to hydrocarbon recovery. Epicenters of this earthquake and its aftershocks were located within a few kilometers of active oil and gas extraction wells and two pressurized injection wells. Main shock and aftershock focal depths (2-6 km) are within a few kilometers of the injection and withdrawal depths. Strain accumulation at geologic rates sufficient to cause rupture at these shallow focal depths is not likely. A paucity of prior seismicity is difficult to reconcile with the occurrence of an earthquake of MW 4.9 and a magnitude-frequency relationship usually assumed for natural earthquakes. The normal-fault main-shock mechanism is consistent with reactivation of preexisting faults in the regional tectonic stress field. If the earthquake were purely tectonic, however, the question arises as to why it occurred on only the small fraction of a large, regional fault system coinciding with active hydrocarbon recovery. No obvious temporal correlation is apparent between the earthquakes and recovery activities. Although thus far little can be said quantitatively about the physical processes that may have caused the 1997 sequence, a plausible explanation involves the poroelastic response of the crust to extraction of hydrocarbons.

Circumstantial and physical evidence indicates that the 1997 Mw 4.9 earthquake in southern Alabama may have been related to hydrocarbon recovery. Epicenters of this earthquake and its aftershocks were located within a few kilometers of active oil and gas extraction wells and two pressurized injection wells. Main shock and aftershock focal depths (2 6 km) are within a few kilometers of the injection and withdrawal depths. Strain accumulation at geologic rates sufficient to cause rupture at these shallow focal depths is not likely. A paucity of prior seismicity is difficult to reconcile with the occurrence of an earthquake of Mw 4.9 and a magnitude-frequency relationship usually assumed for natural earthquakes. The normal-fault main-shock mechanism is consistent with reactivation of preexisting faults in the regional tectonic stress field. If the earthquake were purely tectonic, however, the question arises as to why it occurred on only the small fraction of a large, regional fault system coinciding with active hydrocarbon recovery. No obvious temporal correlation is apparent between the earthquakes and recovery activities. Although thus far little can be said quantitatively about the physical processes that may have caused the 1997 sequence, a plausible explanation involves the poroelastic response of the crust to extraction of hydrocarbons.

Barrier islands are dynamic environments due to their position at the land-sea interface. Storms, waves, tides, currents, and relative sea-level rise are powerful forces that shape barrier island geomorphology and habitats (for example, beach, dune, marsh, and forest). Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and the Deep Water Horizon oil spill in 2010 are two major events that have affected habitats and natural resources on Dauphin Island, Alabama. The latter event prompted a collaborative effort between the U.S. Geological Survey, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and the State of Alabama funded by the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation to investigate viable, sustainable restoration options that protect and restore the natural resources of Dauphin Island, Alabama.In order to understand the feasibility and sustainability of various restoration scenarios, it is important to understand current conditions on Dauphin Island. To further this understanding, a detailed 19-class habitat map for Dauphin Island was produced from 1-foot aerial infrared photography collected on December 4, 2015, and lidar data collected in January 2015. We also conducted a ground survey of habitat types, vegetation community structure, and elevations in November and December 2015. These products provide baseline data regarding the ecological and general geomorphological attributes of the area, which can be compared with observations from other dates for tracking changes over time.

This report presents accomplishments made in completing Task 3 of this project which involves development of criteria for recognizing reservoir heterogeneity in the Black Warrior basin. The report focuses on characterization of the Upper Mississippian Carter sandstone reservoir in North Blowhorn Creek and adjacent oil units in Lamar County, Alabama. This oil unit has produced more than 60 percent of total oil extracted from the Black Warrior basin of Alabama. The Carter sandstone in North Blowhorn Creek oil unit is typical of the most productive Carter oil reservoirs in the Black Warrior basin of Alabama. The first part of the report synthesizes data derived from geophysical well logs and cores from North Blowhorn Creek oil unit to develop a depositional model for the Carter sandstone reservoir. The second part of the report describes the detrital and diagenetic character of Carter sandstone utilizing data from petrographic and scanning electron microscopes and the electron microprobe. The third part synthesizes porosity and pore-throat-size-distribution data determined by high-pressure mercury porosimetry and commercial core analyses with results of the sedimentologic and petrographic studies. The final section of the report discusses reservoir heterogeneity within the context of the five-fold classification of Moore and Kugler (1990).

The presence of total mercury (Hg) in fish tissue and the potential associated health risks has become a global concern in marine ecosystems. Few studies have examined basin-scale variation in Hg accumulation in marine ecosystems, and determining if Hg concentrations in fish tissue vary across marine ecosystems is a key monitoring question. The present study evaluated Hg concentrations in red snapper (Lutjanus campechanus) tissue across three regions of the northern Gulf of Mexico (Alabama, Louisiana, and Texas, USA) and between two habitat types (oil and gas platforms and nonplatforms) within each region. Nitrogen (δ(15)N), carbon (δ(13)C), and sulfur (δ(34)S) stable isotopes were used to investigate ecological differences that may affect Hg concentrations among regions and between habitats. Mercury concentrations in red snapper tissue were positively correlated with fish total length. Regional differences in Hg concentrations were significant, with fish collected from Alabama having the highest concentrations and fish collected from Louisiana having the lowest. No significant difference existed in Hg concentrations between habitats, suggesting that association with platforms may not be a significant factor contributing to red snapper Hg concentrations. While δ(15)N did not differ significantly among the three regions, Texas red snapper were more enriched in δ(34)S and depleted in δ(13)C compared with Alabama and Louisiana red snapper. Although the majority of red snapper collected in the present study had Hg concentrations below safe consumption guidelines, regional differences suggest that spatially explicit monitoring programs may be important for basin-wide assessments.

Phenology is the study of periodic plant and animal life cycle events, how these are influenced by seasonal and interannual variations in climate, and how they modulate the abundance, diversity, and interactions of organisms. The USA National Phenology Network (USA-NPN) is currently being organized to engage federal agencies, environmental networks and field stations, educational institutions, and citizen scientists. The first USA-NPN planning workshop was held August 2005, in Tucson, Ariz. (Betancourt et al. [2005]; http://www.uwm.edu/Dept/Geography/npn/; by 1 June 2007, also see http://www.usanpn.org). With sponsorship from the U.S. National Science Foundation, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and NASA, the second USA-NPN planning workshop was held at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee on 10–12 October 2006 to (1) develop lists of target species and observation protocols; (2) identify existing networks that could comprise the backbone of nationwide observations by 2008; (3) develop opportunities for education, citizen science, and outreach beginning in spring 2007; (4) design strategies for implementing the remote sensing component of USA-NPN; and (5) draft a data management and cyberinfrastructure plan.

This historical review covers the PACS development in the USA during the past 28 years from 1982 to 2010. General historical remarks of PACS and international scene in three stages from infancy, puberty to adolescence are presented. Early PACS development was mostly financed by the federal government including the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the U.S. Army Medical Research and Materiel Command. PACS evolution went through several stages. The earliest stages included the definition of large-scale PACS, establishment of the DICOM and other standards, the development of some early key PACS related technologies, and PACS implementation strategies. The later stages were in the concept of enterprise PACS, IHE (Integrating the Healthcare Enterprise) workflow profiles, and ePR with image distribution. The current most excited accomplishment is in the development of the new field in medical imaging informatics. This review goes through these stages and events in the USA during these 28 years, whenever an event involved participants from other countries, the contributors are cited.

Entomopathogenic fungi (EPF) are widespread in agricultural fields and help suppress crop pests. These natural enemies may be hindered by certain agronomic practices associated with conventional agriculture including the use of pesticides. We tested whether the abundance of EPF differed between organic and conventional fields, and whether specific cropping practices and soil properties were correlated with their abundance. In one year of the survey, soil from organic fields and accompanying margins had significantly more EPF than conventional fields and accompanying margins. Regression analysis revealed that the percentage of silt and the application of organic fertilizer were positively correlated with EPF abundance; but nitrogen concentration, tillage, conventional fields, and margins of conventional fields were negatively correlated with EPF abundance. A greenhouse experiment in which fungicides and herbicides were applied to the soil surface showed no significant effect on EPF. Though organic fields were perceived to be more suitable environments for EPF, abiotic factors and cropping practices such as tillage may have greater impacts on the abundance of EPF. Also, fungicides and herbicides may not be as toxic to soil-borne EPF as originally thought.

Full Text Available Abstract Background A site near Tuskegee, Alabama was examined for vector-host activities of eastern equine encephalomyelitis virus (EEEV. Land cover maps of the study site were created in ArcInfo 9.2® from QuickBird data encompassing visible and near-infrared (NIR band information (0.45 to 0.72 μm acquired July 15, 2008. Georeferenced mosquito and bird sampling sites, and their associated land cover attributes from the study site, were overlaid onto the satellite data. SAS 9.1.4® was used to explore univariate statistics and to generate regression models using the field and remote-sampled mosquito and bird data. Regression models indicated that Culex erracticus and Northern Cardinals were the most abundant mosquito and bird species, respectively. Spatial linear prediction models were then generated in Geostatistical Analyst Extension of ArcGIS 9.2®. Additionally, a model of the study site was generated, based on a Digital Elevation Model (DEM, using ArcScene extension of ArcGIS 9.2®. Results For total mosquito count data, a first-order trend ordinary kriging process was fitted to the semivariogram at a partial sill of 5.041 km, nugget of 6.325 km, lag size of 7.076 km, and range of 31.43 km, using 12 lags. For total adult Cx. erracticus count, a first-order trend ordinary kriging process was fitted to the semivariogram at a partial sill of 5.764 km, nugget of 6.114 km, lag size of 7.472 km, and range of 32.62 km, using 12 lags. For the total bird count data, a first-order trend ordinary kriging process was fitted to the semivariogram at a partial sill of 4.998 km, nugget of 5.413 km, lag size of 7.549 km and range of 35.27 km, using 12 lags. For the Northern Cardinal count data, a first-order trend ordinary kriging process was fitted to the semivariogram at a partial sill of 6.387 km, nugget of 5.935 km, lag size of 8.549 km and a range of 41.38 km, using 12 lags. Results of the DEM analyses indicated a statistically significant inverse

The purpose of this study is to examine college skills Alumni from 1862 and 1890 Land-Grant universities in Alabama and Tennessee rated as essential to acquire in their college education. The data are from a survey of colleges of agriculture alumni who graduated from six land-grant universities in Alabama and Tennessee. IBM SPSS Statistical…

The purpose of this study is to examine college skills Alumni from 1862 and 1890 Land-Grant universities in Alabama and Tennessee rated as essential to acquire in their college education. The data are from a survey of colleges of agriculture alumni who graduated from six land-grant universities in Alabama and Tennessee. IBM SPSS Statistical…

In West Alabama, disease outbreaks in 2009 caused by Aeromonas hydrophila have led to an estimated loss of more than $3 million. In 2010, disease outbreak occurred again in West Alabama, causing losses of hundreds of thousands of pounds of market size channel catfish. During the 2010 disease outbrea...

In West Alabama, disease outbreaks in 2009 caused by Aeromonas hydrophila have led to an estimated loss of more than $3 million. In 2010, disease outbreak occurred again in West Alabama, causing losses of hundreds of thousands of pounds of market size channel catfish. During the 2010 disease outbrea...

Anthropologists are concerned with every aspect of the culture they are investigating. One of the five main branches of anthropology, socio-cultural anthropology, concerns itself with studying the relationship between behavior and culture. This paper explores the concept that changing the behavior of our culture - its beliefs and values - towards science is at the heart of science education reform. There are five institutions that socio-cultural anthropologists use to study the social organization of cultures: the educational system is only one of them. Its function - across all cultures - is to serve as a mechanism for implementing change in cultural beliefs and values. As leaders of science education reform, the Alabama model contends that we must stop the struggle with our purpose and get on with the business of leading culture change through an integrated stakeholder systems approach. This model stresses the need for the interaction of agencies other than education - including government, industry, the media and our health communities to operate in an integrated and systemic fashion to address the issues of living among a technically literate society. Twenty-five years of science education reform needs being voiced and programs being developed has not produced the desired results from within the educational system. This is too limited a focus to affect any real cultural change. It is when we acknowledge that students spend only an average of 12 percent of their life time in schools, that we can begin to ask ourselves what are our students learning the other 88 percent of their time - from their peers, their parents and the media - and what should we be doing to address this cultural crisis in these other arenas in addition to the educational system? The Alabama Math, Science and Technology Education Coalition (AMSTEC) is a non-profit 501c(3) organization operating in the state of Alabama to provide leadership in improving mathematics, science, and technology

Full Text Available Abstract Background We sought to evaluate the hypothesis that the high incidence of cutaneous melanoma in white persons in central Alabama is associated with a predominance of Irish and Scots descent. Methods Frequencies of country of ancestry reports were tabulated. The reports were also converted to scores that reflect proportional countries of ancestry in individuals. Using the scores, we computed aggregate country of ancestry indices as estimates of group ancestry composition. HLA-DRB1*04 allele frequencies and relationships to countries of ancestry were compared in probands and controls. Results were compared to those of European populations with HLA-DRB1*04 frequencies. Results Ninety evaluable adult white cutaneous melanoma probands and 324 adult white controls reported countries of ancestry of their grandparents. The respective frequencies of Ireland, and Scotland and "British Isles" reported countries of ancestry were significantly greater in probands than in controls. The respective frequencies of Wales, France, Italy and Poland were significantly greater in controls. 16.7% of melanoma probands and 23.8% of controls reported "Native American" ancestry; the corresponding "Native American" country of ancestry index was not significantly different in probands and controls. The frequency of HLA-DRB1*04 was significantly greater in probands, but was not significantly associated with individual or aggregate countries of ancestry. The frequency of DRB1*04 observed in Alabama was compared to DRB1*04 frequencies reported from England, Wales, Ireland, Orkney Island, France, Germany, and Australia. Conclusion White adults with cutaneous melanoma in central Alabama have a predominance of Irish, Scots, and "British Isles" ancestry and HLA-DRB1*04 that likely contributes to their high incidence of cutaneous melanoma.

The North Alabama Lightning Mapping Array became operational in November 2001 as a principal component of a severe weather test bed to infuse new science and technology into the short-term forecasting of severe and hazardous weather, principally within nearby National Weather Service forecast offices. Since the installation of the LMA, it has measured the total lightning activity of a large number of severe weather events, including three supercell tornado outbreaks, two supercell hailstorm events, and numerous microburst-producing storms and ordinary non-severe thunderstorms. The key components of evolving storm morphology examined are the time rate-of-change (temporal trending) of storm convective and precipitation characteristics that can be diagnosed in real-time using NEXRAD WSR-88D Doppler radar (echo growth and decay, precipitation structures and velocity features, outflow boundaries), LMA (total lightning flash rate and its trend) and National Lightning Detection Network (cloud-to-ground lightning, its polarity and trends). For example, in a transitional season supercell tornado outbreak, peak total flash rates for typical supercells in Tennessee reached 70-100 min -1 and increases in the total flash rate occurred during storm intensification as much as 20-25 min prior to at least some of the tornadoes. The most intense total flash rate measured during this outbreak (over 800 flashes min -1) occurred in a storm in Alabama. In the case of a severe summertime pulse thunderstorm in North Alabama, the peak total flash rate reached 300 min -1, with a strong increase in total lightning evident some 9 min before damaging winds were observed at the surface. In this paper, we provide a sampling of LMA observations and products during severe weather events to illustrate the capability of the system, and discuss the prospects for improving the short-term forecasting of convective weather using total lightning data.

Activities of the University of Alabama in support of state and local planning commissions are reported. Demonstrations were given of the various types of remotely sensed images available from U-2, Skylab, and LANDSAT; and their uses and limitations were discussed. Techniques to be used in determining flood prone areas were provided for environmental studies. A rapid, inexpensive method for study was developed by which imagery is copied on 35 mm film and projected on existing topographic maps for measuring delta volume and growth.

Forecasters have difficulty predicting "random" afternoon thunderstorms during the summer months. Differences in soil characteristics could be a contributing factor for storms. The NASA Land Information System (LIS) may assist forecasters in predicting summer convection by identifying boundaries in land characteristics. This project identified case dates during the summer of 2009 by analyzing synoptic weather maps, radar, and satellite data to look for weak atmospheric forcing and disorganized convective development. Boundaries in land characteristics that may have lead to convective initiation in central Alabama were then identified using LIS.

This is an Environmental Assessment (Assessment) (DOE/EA-0935) evaluating the Power Marketing Policy and Subsequent Contracts between Southeastern and its customers. The Assessment evaluates two alternatives and the no action alternative. The proposed action is to market the power and energy available in the Georgia-Alabama-South Carolina System during the next ten years, with new power sales contracts of ten-year durations, to the customers set forth in Appendix A of the Assessment. In addition to the proposed alternative, the Assessment evaluates the alternative of extending existing contracts under the current marketing policy.

A study was undertaken in order to understand recent environmental change in Mobile Bay, Alabama. For this study a series of surface sediment and box core samples was collected. The surface benthic foraminiferal data provide the modern baseline conditions of the bay and can be used as a reference for changing paleoenvironmental parameters recorded in the box cores. The 14 sampling locations were chosen in the bay to cover the wide diversity of fluvial and marine-influenced environments on both sides of the shipping channel.

To compare orthopedics publications from USA, Japan and China. Scientific papers belong to ''Orthopedics'' category of Science Citation Index Expanded subject categories were retrieved from the "PubMed'' and ''Web of Knowledge'' online databases. In the field of orthopedics, the annual number increased significantly from 2000 to 2012 in the three countries (porthopedics field and ranked 1st; Japan contributed 5.9% and ranked 4th; China contributed 5.2% and ranked 5th. Publications from USA had the highest accumulated IFs and the highest total citations of articles (USA > Japan > China, porthopedics journals (USA (14355) > Japan (1702) > China (487), porthopedics journals, it still lags far behind USA and Japan in the field of orthopedics in terms of quantity and quality.

Magnetic resonance plays a central role in academic, industrial and medical research. NMR is widely used for characterizing the structure, chemistry and dynamic properties of new materials, chemicals and pharmaceuticals, in both the liquid and solid phases. NMR also provides detailed functional information on biological macromolecules and their assemblies, in vitro, in membranes and even in whole cells. In vivo, MRI/S are used for clinical diagnosis and prognosis of disease, for non-invasive studies of human physiology and metabolism in general, and for evaluating brain function, in particular. MRI/S is also a key technology for imaging small organisms at the cellular level, monitoring catalysis in chemical reactors and other scientific areas where non-destructive characterizations of structure and dynamics in complex systems are needed. At the heart of all the MR methods are strong, stable and homogeneous magnets built from low-temperature superconductors (LTS), which are essential to these experiments. Further developments in NMR/MRI are hampered because the ultimate limit of the attainable field strengths of persistent LTS magnets has now been reached. Fortunately, recent breakthroughs in new high-temperature superconductors (HTS) and hybrid LTS/HTS magnet technologies promise to greatly increase the achievable field strength of NMR magnets and to decrease the operational complexity of high field human MRI infrastructures, thereby enabling new applications at the forefront of modern multidisciplinary research.

Scientists from the U.S. Geological Survey, St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center collected 303 surface sediment samples from Dauphin Island, Alabama, and the surrounding water bodies in August 2015. These sediments were processed to determine physical characteristics such as organic content, bulk density, and grain-size. The environments where the sediments were collected include high and low salt marshes, washover deposits, dunes, beaches, sheltered bays, and open water. Sampling by the USGS was part of a larger study to assess the feasibility and sustainability of proposed restoration efforts for Dauphin Island, Alabama, and assess the island’s resilience to rising sea level and storm events. The data presented in this publication can be used by modelers to attempt validation of hindcast models and create predictive forecast models for both baseline conditions and storms. This study was funded by the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, via the Gulf Environmental Benefit Fund.This report serves as an archive for sedimentological data derived from surface sediments. Downloadable data are available as Excel spreadsheets, JPEG files, and formal Federal Geographic Data Committee metadata.

The focus of this study was to determine the extent of natural and (or) anthropogenic impacts on the sedimentary records of Mobile and Bon Secour Bays, Alabama during the last 150 years. These bays are unique in that anthropogenic activities are generally widespread and span both the eastern and western shorelines. However, there is a clear distinction in the types of human development and infrastructure between the western and eastern shorelines. These activities and the differences in land-use and -change influence the overall supply and remobilization of sediment to and within the bay. These factors could subsequently threaten the health and integrity of these environments and their ability to mitigate against long-term processes associated with climate change. In an attempt to characterize long-term accretion rates within the Mobile Bay Estuarine System (MBES), seven box cores were collected and analyzed for excess lead-210 (210Pbxs, the difference between total and supported 210Pb) and cesium-137 (137Cs) activities. The MBES receives sediment and water from the Alabama and Tombigbee River watersheds, which converge into the Mobile-Tensaw River (MTR) system just prior to discharging into Mobile Bay. Riverine discharge from the MTR system to the bay is second only to the Mississippi River discharge to the Gulf of Mexico for the conterminous United States.

Full Text Available Contraflow on major evacuation routes is one scheme that has been adopted in many Gulf and eastern coastal states for hurricane evacuation. The idea is to reverse one direction of the roadway in order to accommodate the often substantially increased travel demand moving away from the impact area. Efficient planning and operation is critical to a successful contraflow implementation. Alabama has an approximately 140-mile contraflow segment on I-65 between exit 31 and exit 167 and has carried out contraflow operations several times in past hurricane evacuations. The timing for the deployment of equipment and personnel and the initiation and termination of actual contraflow affects the effectiveness, safety, and cost of the operation. Researchers from the University of Alabama were tasked with the design of a decision support system for contraflow evacuation planning. The conceived decision support system consists of three main modules: the demand module, the network optimization module, and the incident and characterization module. This paper focuses on the design of the traffic incident generation and characterization module of the planned decision support system.

The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Alabama Department of Environmental Management, is conducting a series of geohydrologic studies to delineate the major aquifers (those which provide water for public supplies) in Alabama, their recharge areas, and areas susceptible to contamination. This report summarizes these factors for two major aquifers in Area 4--Calhoun, Jefferson, St. Clair, Shelby, and Talladega Counties. The major aquifers in the study area are in Cambrian and Ordovician and Mississippian rocks. Highest yields from aquifers are associated with solution openings in carbonate rocks. Springs in the area provide substantial amounts of water for municipal supply. Coldwater Spring provides 17 million gal of water/day to the city of Anniston, the largest groundwater user in the area. All recharge areas for the aquifers are susceptible to contamination from land surface. Two conditions exist in the study area that may cause the aquifers to be highly susceptible to contamination on a local scale: fracturing of rock materials due to faulting and the production of a porous cherty soil through weathering. Where sinkholes are present, there may be a direct connection between the land surface and the aquifer. Areas with sinkholes are considered to be extremely susceptible to contamination. (USGS)

The Office of Radiation and Indoor Air, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), operates six radon exposure chambers in its two laboratories, the National Air and Radiation Environmental Laboratory (NAREL) in Montgomery, Alabama, and the Las Vegas Facility, Las Vegas, Nevada. These radon exposure chambers are used to calibrate and test portable radon measuring instruments, test commercial suppliers of radon measurement services through the Radon Measurement Proficiency Program, and expose passive measurement devices to known radon concentrations as part of a quality assurance plan for federal and state studies measuring indoor radon concentrations. Both laboratories participate in national and international intercomparisons for the measurement of radon and are presently working with the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) to receive a certificate of traceability for radon measurements. NAREL has developed an estimate of the total error in its calibration of each chamber`s continuous monitors as part of an internal quality assurance program. This paper discusses the continuous monitors and their calibration for the three chambers located in Montgomery, Alabama, as well as the results of the authors intercomparisons and total error analysis.

Global warming and anthropogenic disturbances significantly influence the biosphere, tremendously increasing species extinction rates. In Central Alabama, we analyzed Drosophilidae species composition change nearly 100 years after the previous survey. We found ten Drosophilid species that were not reported during the last major biodiversity studies, two of which are invasive pests. In addition, we analyzed the influence of seasonal environmental variables characteristic of the subtropical climate zone on Drosophila abundance and biodiversity. We found a significant correlation between temperature and abundance of total Drosophila as well as for six of the seven most represented species individually, with a maximum abundance at intermediate temperatures (18-26°C). In addition, temperature was positively correlated with biodiversity of Drosophila. Precipitation produced a significant effect on the abundance of five species of Drosophila, with different optima for each species, but did not affect overall biodiversity. We concluded that in the subtropical climate zone of Central Alabama, seasonal temperature and precipitation changes produce a significant effect on Drosophila abundance and biodiversity, while local land use also impacts fly abundance, contributing to an apparent shift in species composition over the last century. We expect global climate change and other anthropogenic factors to further impact Drosophila species composition in the subtropical climate zone into the future.

In the past decade, scientific research has developed rapidly in China, but the growth seems to vary widely between different disciplines. In this study, we aimed to compare the quantity and quality of publications in urology and nephrology journals from USA, China and Japan. Journals listed in the "Urology and Nephrology" category of Science Citation Index Expanded subject categories were included. Scientific papers in these journals written by researchers from USA, Japan and China were retrieved from the "PubMed" and "Web of Knowledge" online databases. The annual number of total scientific articles increased significantly from 2001 to 2010 in China, and has ranked second in the world since 2006. In the field of urology and nephrology, the annual number increased significantly from 2001 to 2010 in USA and China; but not in Japan. The share of articles increased significantly over time in China, decreased significantly in Japan, and remained unchanged in USA. In 2010, USA contributed 32.17% of the total world output in urology and nephrology field and ranked 1(st); Japan contributed 5.19% and ranked 5(th); China contributed 3.83% and ranked 9(th). Publications from USA had the highest accumulated IFs and the highest total citations of articles (USA>Japan>China, pJapan(6704)>China(2233), pJapan>China, pscientific publication in urology and nephrology journals in the past decade, it still lags far behind USA and Japan in the field of urology and nephrology in terms of quantity and quality.

Low-flow statistics are needed by water-resource engineers, planners, and managers to protect and manage the water resources of Alabama. The accuracy of these statistics is influenced by such factors as length of record and specific hydrologic conditions measured in those records. As such, it is generally recommended that flow statistics be updated about every 10 years to provide improved and representative low-flow characteristics. The previous investigation of low-flow characteristics for Alabama included data through September 1990. Since that time, Alabama has experienced several historic droughts highlighting the need to update the low-flow characteristics at U.S. Geological Survey streamgaging stations. Consequently, this investigation was undertaken in cooperation with a number of State and local agencies to update low-flow frequency and flow-duration statistics at 210 continuous-record streamgaging stations in Alabama and 67 stations from basins that are shared with surrounding States. The flow characteristics were computed on the basis of available data through March 2014.

Recent events of the Alabama Community College System are examined as an historical organizational case study. Critical events are noted along with associated professional literature related to those events and actions. While the study attempts to explain the organizational culture that allowed the rise of unethical leadership, the primary focus…

This quantitative study examined the perceptions of Alabama community college students and faculty toward Web-enhanced courses and the impact of these courses on the educational experience as defined by Chickering and Gamson's "Seven Principles for Good Practice in Undergraduate Education," an empirically based model. Secondarily, the…

From a survey of containment ponds for Phytophthora spp. at one nursery each in Alabama and Mississippi, eight species and one taxon were recovered with P. gonapodyides dominant in cooler months and P. hydropathica in warmer months, accounting for 39.6% and 46.6% overall recovery, respectively. Amo...

Light detection and ranging (Lidar) and color infrared imagery (CIR) were used to quantify forest structure and to distinguish deciduous from coniferous trees for selected stands on the William B. Bankhead National Forest in Alabama. Lidar bare ground and vegetation point clouds were used to determine tree heights and tree locations. Lidar accuracy was assessed by...

Compared the use of color in physical design features associated with the exterior and interior designs of 101 child care centers in Alabama. Found that color was evidenced on the exterior of the centers at just over half of the sample. The interior environments had warm colors and bright accents in the setting; however, the majority of centers…

Purpose: The purpose of this preliminary study was to explore the associations among hearing loss, physical health, and visual memory in adults living in rural areas, urban clusters, and an urban city in west Central Alabama. Method: Two hundred ninety-seven adults (182 women, 115 men) from rural areas, urban clusters, and an urban city of west…

... 20, 2010, the Center for Biological Diversity (CBD), Alabama Rivers Alliance, Clinch Coalition... integrity or fragmentation), and the potential contribution of identified demographic risks to extinction... in medium to large flowing rivers from the Mississippi River drainage to the Suwannee River, Florida...

Virginia Tech senior Ashley White, a University Honors student pursuing degrees in both materials science and engineering and music performance, has been named to USA Today's All-USA College Academic First Team.

the thickest and coarsest parts of each sequence, and the shallowest depositional environments, coincide with basement fault blocks, which are known to have experienced uplift during earlier Lexington Limestone deposition. The occurrence of thick, coarse facies on the same blocks suggests that the blocks continued to experience uplift into shallow water, where tides and waves redistributed sediments during upper Tanglewood deposition. Although eustasy apparently controlled cyclicity, Taconian far-field forces generated by orogeny in the east seem to have influenced facies distribution in each cycle through reactivation of basement fault zones as synsedimentary growth faults. The example of the upper Tanglewood Member shows that tectonic far-field forces can exert important influences on the development of carbonate depositional environments, even in distal intracratonic settings like the Lexington Platform.

The analysis and characterization of competing risks for water resources rely on a wide spectrum of tools to evaluate hazards and risks associated with their management. For example, waters of the lower Colorado River stored in reservoirs such as Lake Mead present a wide range of competing risks related to water quantity and water quality. These risks are often interdependent and complicated by competing uses of source waters for sustaining biological resources and for supporting a range of agricultural, municipal, recreational, and industrial uses. USGS is currently conducting a series of interdisciplinary case-studies on water quality of Lake Mead and its source waters. In this case-study we examine selected constituents potentially entering the Lake Mead system, particularly endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs). Worldwide, a number of environmental EDCs have been identified that affect reproduction, development, and adaptive behaviors in a wide range of organisms. Many EDCs are minimally affected by current treatment technologies and occur in treated sewage effluents. Several EDCs have been detected in Lake Mead, and several substances have been identified that are of concern because of potential impacts to the aquatic biota, including the sport fishery of Lake Mead and endangered razorback suckers (Xyrauchen texanus) that occur in the Colorado River system. For example, altered biomarkers relevant to reproduction and thyroid function in fishes have been observed and may be predictive of impaired metabolism and development. Few studies, however, have addressed whether such EDC-induced responses observed in the field have an ecologically significant effect on the reproductive success of fishes. To identify potential linkages between EDCs and species of management concern, the risk analysis and characterization in this reconnaissance study focused on effects (and attendant uncertainties) that might be expressed by exposed populations. In addition, risk reduction

The Cerro Toledo Formation (CTF), a series of intracaldera rhyolitic dome complexes and their associated extracaldera tephras and epiclastic sedimentary deposits, records the dynamic interplay between volcanic, tectonic, and geomorphic processes that were occurring along the western margin of the Rio Grande rift between major caldera-forming eruptions of the Bandelier Tuff 1.65-1.26 Ma. The Alamo Canyon and Pueblo Canyon Members differ significantly despite deposition within a few kilometers of each other on the Pajarito Plateau. These differences highlight spatial distinctions in vent sources, eruptive styles, and depositional environments along the eastern side of the Jemez Mountains volcanic field during this ca. 400,000 year interval. Intercalated pyroclastic fall deposits and sandstones of the Pueblo Canyon Member reflect deposition with a basin. Thick Alamo Canyon Member deposits of block-and-ash-flow tuff and pyroclastic fall deposits fill a paleovalley carved into coarse grained sedimentary units reflecting deposition along the mountain front. Chemistry and ages of glass from fall deposits together with clast lithologies of sedimentary units, allow correlation of outcrops, subsurface units, and sources. Dates on pyroclastic fall deposits from Alamo Canyon record deep incision into the underlying Otowi Member in the southern part of the Pajarito Plateau within 100 k.y. of the Toledo caldera-forming eruption. Reconstruction of the CTF surface shows that this period of rapid incision was followed by aggradation where sediments largely filled pre-existing paleocanyons. Complex sequences within the upper portion of the Otowi Member in outcrop and in the subsurface record changes in the style of eruptive activity during the waning stages of the Toledo caldera-forming eruption.

Several states have enacted legislation restricting undocumented immigrants' access to publicly funded health benefits not protected by federal law. Using electronic health records from 140,856 county health department visits, we assessed the monthly change in Latino patients' visits compared to non-Latinos 12 months before and after implementation of Alabama's immigration law. We used ICD-9 diagnosis codes to determine whether visits included services exempt under the law: immunizations, testing and treatment for sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and communicable diseases, and family planning. Differences between groups in the mean percent change were assessed with t-tests. Among children younger than 18 years, there were no significant differences by ethnicity. Visits among Latino adults decreased by 28% for communicable diseases, 25% for STIs, and 13% for family planning; this was significantly different from changes among non-Latino adults (p public's health.

Full Text Available The Energy Independence Security Act aims to increase the production of renewable fuels in order to improve the energy efficiency of the United States of America. This legislation set the biofuel production goal at 136.3 million m3 by 2022, with approximately 79 million m3 derived from advanced biofuels or renewable fuels other than corn ethanol. A bioeconomic model was used to assess the potential impact of the biofuel mandate in terms of nitrogen loss associated with corn production in northern Alabama considering the El Nino Southern Oscillation phases. From simulations conducted at the watershed level, the expansion in biofuel production would increase the production of corn by 122.89% with associated increase in nitrogen loss of 20%. Furthermore, nitrogen loss would be more severe in climatic transition towards La Nina.

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), as part of the National Assessment of Storm-Induced Coastal Change Hazards project, conducts baseline and storm-response photography missions to document and understand the changes in vulnerability of the Nation's coasts to extreme storms. On June 9, 2011, the USGS conducted an oblique aerial photographic survey from Dauphin Island, Alabama, to Breton Island, Louisiana, aboard a Beechcraft BE90 King Air (aircraft) at an altitude of 500 feet (ft) (152 meters (m)) and approximately 1,200 ft (366 m) offshore. This mission was conducted to collect baseline data for assessing incremental changes in the beach and nearshore area and can be used to assess future coastal change.The photographs in this report are Joint Photographic Experts Group (JPEG) images. These photographs document the state of the barrier islands and other coastal features at the time of the survey.

Tornadoes and violent weather pose a hazard to children, yet little is known about the use of personal protective devices during storms. An outbreak of tornadoes on April 27, 2011, resulted in the deaths of 23 children in Alabama. Records from 60 patients seen in a pediatric emergency department for tornado-related injuries were reviewed to identify the use of injury prevention devices. Three children directly exposed to a violent tornado (Enhanced Fujita Scale 4) were using safety equipment, specifically, a helmet and infant car seats. These 3 children sustained only minor injuries. Personal protective devices may have played a role in preventing child injuries from tornadoes. To our knowledge, this is the first report in the medical literature on helmet and infant car seat use as child protective devices during tornadoes.

As the world reacts to environmental concerns relating to fossil energy usage, emphasis is again placed on greater use of renewable fuels such as wood residues. Realistically, however, decisions to utilize such fuels are based on economic factors, rather than desires to improve US energy independence and/or protect the environment. Because Alabama has a large forest products industry, state authorities have long sought to assist potential users of wood residue fuels to better use biomass fuels instead of the usual alternative: natural gas. State agency experience in promoting commercial and industrial use of wood residue fuels has shown that inadequate financial planning has often resulted in rejection of viable projects or acceptance of non-optimum projects. This paper discusses the reasons for this situation and suggests remedies for its improvement. (author)

Dauphin Island is a 26 km-long barrier island located southwest of Mobile Bay, Alabama, in the north-central Gulf of Mexico (fig. 1). The island contains sandy beaches, dunes, maritime forests, freshwater ponds and intertidal wetlands, providing habitat for many endangered and threatened species. Dauphin Island also provides protection for and maintains estuarine conditions within Mississippi Sound, supporting oyster habitat and seagrasses. Wetland marshes along the Alabama mainland are protected by the island from wave-induced erosion during storms approaching from the Gulf of Mexico. Over the years, the island has been eroded by storms, most recently by Hurricane Ivan (2004) and Hurricane Katrina (2005) (Ivan/Katrina), which breached the island along its narrowest extent and caused damage to infrastructure (fig. 2). Along with storms producing significant episodic change, long-term beach erosion has exposed numerous pine tree stumps in the shoreface. The stumps are remnants of past maritime forests and reflect the consistent landward retreat of the island (Parker and others, 1997).Island change has prompted the State of Alabama to evaluate restoration alternatives to increase island resilience and sustainability by protecting and preserving the natural habitat, and by understanding the processes that influence shoreline change. Under a grant from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF), restoration alternatives are being developed that will allow the State to make decisions on engineering and ecological restoration designs based on scientific analysis of likely outcomes and tradeoffs between impacts to stakeholder interests. Science-based assessment of the coastal zone requires accurate and up-to-date baseline data to provide a valid image of present conditions and to support modeling of coastal processes. Bathymetric elevation measurements are essential to this requirement. In August 2015, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) and the U.S. Geological

建立了沙漠峰双井式增强型热储的概念模型,并利用TOUGH2求解了模型.结果表明,利用双井系统开采沙漠峰热储是可行的,系统的流体循环量为30 kg/s,30年内的产热功率和产电功率分别为18.90 MW和3.42 MW左右,储层水流阻抗最大为0.095 MPa/(kg/s)；在0.7～17.30年间储层温度和压强逐渐降低,水流阻抗逐渐增大,系统只产出液态水,而17.30 ～30年间储层温度、压强、水流阻抗基本保持不变,生产井井口附近液态水不断汽化,系统产出液态水和蒸汽的混合物,且气体产量逐渐增大.%A conceptual model for two-vertical wells enhanced geothermal reservoir at Desert Peak geothennal field was established, which was solved with TOUGH2. Results show that it's feasible to exploit geothennal energy at the deep Desert Peak with two-vertical wells system. The system with a circulating fluid mass rate of 30 kg/s, has a thermal production power and electric production power, respectively, around 18. 90 MW and 3. 42 MW within 30 years, with a maximum water flow impedance up to 0.095 MPa/( kg/s). In the first 0.7 ~ 17.30 years, the temperature and pressure in the reservoir will decrease gradually and water flow impedance will increase gradually, resulting in the system only producing liquid water. While in the later 17. 30 ~ 30 years, due to the reservoir temperature, pressure and flow impedance basically staying unchanged, liquid water close to production well mouse will continue to vaporize resulting in the system producing a mixture of liquid and gas, with gas output at an increasing rate.

Subtherapeutic levels of a commonly used antibiotic, sulfamethoxazole (SMx), has been detected in a variety of drinking-water aquifers. Recent microcosm studies suggest that very low concentrations of SMx, which is highly mobile and persistent in subsurface environments, can suppress nitrate reduction and growth of unattached groundwater bacteria. However, most aquifer bacteria are associated with mineral surfaces and it remains unclear to what extent attached microbial communities are impacted by SMx and whether any such impairment(s) are ameliorated by the presence of nutrients from the same contaminant source. The present 30-day in-situ dosing study assessed the inhibitory effects of low SMx concentrations upon sediment-attached aquifer bacteria in the presence and absence of nutrient amendments. Bacterial responses were compared for exposure to: 1) SMx alone ( 400 ppb), 2) SMx and nutrients ( 0.2 mM acetate, 0.1 mM NaNO3 and 0.1 mM NH4Cl), 3) nutrients alone, and 4) ambient groundwater. The field test used an array of 8 pairs of 5-cm (diameter) PVC injection and observation wells with slotted screens placed 9.6-10.2 m below land surface (˜5 m below water table). Aquifer sediments containing microbial communities were placed inside filter chambers that were positioned within the screened sections of the observation wells arranged in a row perpendicular to the direction of groundwater flow. Bromide (0.7 mM) was used as a conservative tracer. Evidence that SMx suppresses in-situ reduction of nitrate to nitrite was apparent from the substantial lag (9.5 days) in breakthrough of the nitrite within the wells exposed to SMx and nutrients as compared to nutrients alone. Acetate consumption data indicated that the presence of SMx could affect degradation of other organic contaminants in groundwater, although the inhibitory effects may be ameliorated, in part, by the presence of nutrients that are co-transported within a wastewater plume.

To identify modifiable barriers in resources, knowledge, and management that may improve the care of young athletes with concussions in the state of Alabama. An electronic survey was distributed to 2668 middle and high school coaches of contact sports in Alabama, and a paper survey was completed by 79 certified athletic trainers (ATCs) in 2010. Questions focused on their resource availability, knowledge of concussions based on the 2008 Consensus Statement on Concussion in Sport: the 3rd International Conference on Concussion in Sport (commonly known as the Zurich consensus statement), and management of concussions. A total of 402 (16% response rate) coaches and 55 ATCs (70% response rate) responded to the survey. This study highlights that ATC coverage often is limited to the high school level, football, and competitions. Both coaches and ATCs primarily use physicians to make return-to-play decisions, although coaches (43.7%) usually refer to primary care physicians, whereas ATCs (43.6%) refer to orthopedic or sports medicine physicians. The study also revealed that coaches and ATCs desire education and could expand concussion awareness by providing education to parents and athletes. No overall difference was seen in the knowledge and management of concussions between coaches and ATCs; however, ATCs were more likely to identify symptoms that are positive for concussions (P = 0.04). Both groups had difficulty recognizing subtle symptoms such as trouble sleeping, personality changes, and dizziness; they also were unaware that strenuous mental activities could delay concussion recovery, although ATCs scored significantly better than coaches (P Concussion Assessment Tool 2 (7.5% vs 56.4%) or neuropsychological testing (5.3% vs 14.5%). This study describes coaches' and ATCs' varying knowledge and management techniques and highlights areas in which targeted interventions and outreach could be useful. These areas include increased ATC availability, coach/ATC concussion

This study is carried out to quantify the impacts of climate change and land use change on water availability over the Flint River watershed (FRW) located in the wheeler lake watershed in Northern Alabama. The FRW directly drains into the Tennessee River, which is a major source of water supply for the Southern States. The observed precipitation and temperature data are obtained from the Alabama Mesonet Stations which are also a part of National Resources Conservation Service (USDA NRCS) Soil Climate Analysis Network (SCAN). The GCM simulated climate data are obtained from the WCRP CMIP5 ensemble that consists of 234 downscaled climate projections from four emission scenarios and 37 GCMs. The hydrologic model SWAT is calibrated and validated for a period of 2004 to 2014, based on daily meteorological forcing and monthly streamflow data for the FRW. A total of 15 parameters that directly influences the surface/base flow and basin response are selected and calibrated. The anticipated change in future climate (2030s, 2050s, 2070s, 2090s) with respect to baseline period (2004-2014/2010s) for each emission scenario are introduced into baseline climate to perturb it to future climate pattern. Various climate scenarios based on future climate are forced into the calibrated SWAT model to quantify future water availability over the basin and compared with the baseline period. This is a part of the Geospatial Education and Research Center (GERC) project and the major research findings from this project will help decision makers in evaluating the combined impacts of climate change and land use change on water availability, and developing strategies to sustain available natural resources.

Full Text Available U.S. cotton production is suffering from the yield loss caused by the reniform nematode (RN, Rotylenchulus reniformis. Management of this devastating pest is of utmost importance because, no upland cotton cultivar exhibits adequate resistance to RN. Nine populations of RN from distinct regions in Alabama and one population from Mississippi were studied and thirteen morphometric features were measured on 20 male and 20 female nematodes from each population. Highly correlated variables (positive in female and male RN morphometric parameters were observed for body length (L and distance of vulva from the lip region (V (r = 0.7 and tail length (TL and c′ (r = 0.8, respectively. The first and second principal components for the female and male populations showed distinct clustering into three groups. These results show pattern of sub-groups within the RN populations in Alabama. A one-way ANOVA on female and male RN populations showed significant differences (p ≤ 0.05 among the variables. Multiple sequence alignment (MSA of 18S rRNA sequences (421 showed lengths of 653 bp. Sites within the aligned sequences were conserved (53%, parsimony-informative (17%, singletons (28%, and indels (2%, respectively. Neighbor-Joining analysis showed intra and inter-nematodal variations within the populations as clone sequences from different nematodes irrespective of the sex of nematode isolate clustered together. Morphologically, the three groups (I, II and III could not be distinctly associated with the molecular data from the 18S rRNA sequences. The three groups may be identified as being non-geographically contiguous.